Lifted Nevermore
by KaipazuKebin
Summary: Raven's emotional difficulties only heighten when a member of the team disappears, while tensions rise between the remaining four.
1. Some Visitor

DISCLAIMER: TEEN TITANS and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and copyright DC Comics. This story is more directly based on the animated series of TEEN TITANS produced by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

OTHER CREDITS: Research on comic events, specifically for character pasts, was done at the website TITANSTOWER.  
This story contains a number of references to THE RAVEN, a poem by Edgar Allan Poe.

TIME PERIOD: This story can take place any time after the episode HAUNTED and before the first episode of the fourth season, EPISODE 257-494.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Although fanfiction, this is an extremely personalized piece. Even with the already existing characters, the extensive research, and the literary references to Poe's poem, this is _mine_. I could go on and on and point out every single way I connect myself to the material, but…I think it's too personal.

NOTE FOR REVIEWERS: The story was planned out, basically, in August of 2004 and was started in September. It was completed on January 31, 2005, before the airing of BIRTHMARK. If elements of characters pasts (specifically Raven's) are revealed in the series and their adaptation differs from my own, changes will eventually be made accordingly. Besides that, feel free to bash the work all you want.

* * *

Darkness had overcome the city as day was turned to night. But while citizens slumbered, one still lie awake. Stationed in her room at Titans' Tower, the melancholy young heroine, Raven, was having a difficult time falling asleep, much as she had many a night prior. There was no simple explanation, as nothing was simple when it came to Raven. A mysterious plague had fallen upon her, the likes of which she did not know. But is it not possible she knew quite clearly, but refused to accept the fact? Perhaps not all was well in her mind… She had been having difficulty keeping her emotions under control, as of late. Her change in attitude was apparent, as she had been much quicker to anger with her friends, the Teen Titans, particularly the joke-cracking Beast Boy.

Though often she had been flustered in the past, a bit of meditation would easily put her mind at rest. Even more frequently than she had before, Raven would retreat to her room to meditate, but any ease she was put at would not last long at all. Something was most obviously bothering her, and the cause of such a great sore should have been apparent, as well. Why did she refuse to let it be? She refused to admit her disposition, even to herself. Day after day, week after week, Raven would simply push this unwanted emotion further into the depths of her mind; each time it would push back, even harder.

The night that had consumed the city began to dissolve as she still lied awake. Frustrated and disturbed, the sleep deprived Titan's mind wandered to the poem of Edgar Allan Poe. As _The Raven_ ran through her head, the weary Titan fell asleep.

"**Lifted Nevermore"**

by Kevin Kypers

* * *

**Chapter 1 – Some Visitor**

Well rested, Beast Boy strutted through Titans' Tower. He would even be so bold as to knock on Raven's door, this morning. He knew something had been bothering her and really wanted to help. Even though he knew she wouldn't want to tell him what was wrong, he'd cheer her up with his clever wit and sophisticated charm.

"Hey, Raven!" he called, pounding on the door, "Want me to make you some tofu eggs and bacon?"

Having been face down in her pillow, the sound of the Changeling's voice made her lift herself. Waking up to hear him had startled her a bit; suddenly her stomach filled with butterflies and her face turned a hue of red. The feeling was broken, though, when the butterflies began to churn in her stomach to the point of feeling sickened. Her mood shot to an irrational anger. She yelled fierce in response, "Herbal tea!"

On the opposite end of the door, Beast Boy winced in the form of a mouse. Quickly, he transformed back into a human and called, "Kay!"

Apparently his _sophisticated charm_ didn't work as well as he had hoped, as she sounded aggravated. He didn't want to try and push her any further by cracking a joke, so continued on his way to the kitchen to prepare Raven's herbal tea.

There he met with Starfire. "Good morning, Beast Boy!" To tell the truth, it could hardly be considered morning. It was nearly the afternoon, but awkward sleeping habits were part of being a Teen Titan. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah; morning, Star," he replied, "Have you noticed anything…strange about Raven, lately?"

She thought for a moment, "Yes, I feel she's been acting somewhat differently. It would seem she's angry all of the time."

"Do you know what's bugging her?"

"I'm sorry; I cannot say that I do."

He simply sighed and leaned on the counter. He didn't know why he was so worried about her. Raven always seemed to have things under control. Aside from that, she was _Raven_. Why worry about _Raven_? He considered her a friend, but all she seemed to do was push him away. It was obvious she wouldn't give him a second thought. He, Beast Boy, was probably her least favorite Titan.

His concentration was lost when the alarm sounded and the door slid open. Robin stood in the doorway, in full costume. "Have breakfast later, Titans. We have to move!"

The night before, Control Freak had broken out of prison and already he was making his mark. He began his raid at the electronics section of the department store. Robin had just received word that the Teen Titans were needed on the job.

o-o-o

"Titans, GO!"

Robin tore through the streets on his R-Cycle. Cyborg trailed closely behind in the T-Car, with Raven in the passenger seat. Starfire simply used her ability of flight, while Beast Boy transformed into a peregrine falcon.

o-o-o

Meanwhile, at the department store, Control Freak was causing quite a ruckus. His remote control was able to over-load the stereo systems, causing one to explode.

Turning back to the cashier, he commanded, "Now, fetch me a copy of the _Intergalactic Glory _special edition DVD!"

The girl at the register cowered, "_I'm sorry! We don't have anymore! See for yourself; the shelf is empty!_"

"No way! You must have a box or two in the stock room, right?"

"_No! The new shipment hasn't arrived, yet! You could reserve a copy; guaranteed to arrive within two weeks!_"

Control Freak sighed, "Fine… I guess I'll do that…"

She relaxed a bit as it seemed he wouldn't cause anything else to explode. Slowly, she pulled herself back up from under the counter. "Okay, then, sir. I'll just need your name, address, phone number, and a ten dollar deposit and you can be on your way!"

"WHAT?" He aimed for another stereo, placing the same fate upon it as the other. "I didn't break out of jail to pay ten dollar deposits!"

Quivering, the girl pulled out her wallet and put ten dollars in the register. The receipt for the reserved copy began to print out. "_You're right! I'm sorry!_"

Even so, Control Freak seemed disappointed, "Geez; I broke out of prison to get this DVD and—"

"—and now we're putting you back in," stated the Boy Wonder. In proper position, the Teen Titans stood before Control Freak to foil his plan.

"Darn! It's my archenemies! The Teen Titans!"

"That's right," began Robin, "and your show's just been canceled!" Robin ran forward at full speed, jumped into the air, and prepared to kick the controller from his hand.

"Sorry, they ordered a new season." Unfortunately for Robin, Control Freak activated the television set above him, used for video game demos. It unplugged itself and landed on top of him.

Upon its crash, it was destroyed. Robin pushed it off of him, infuriated. To keep the Titans entertained, Control Freak aimed his remote at a pile of discount DVDs, a large stereo system, a Gamestation console, and a row of CDs.

Starfire gasped as the CDs charged towards her. Quickly getting over the shock of inanimate objects being given life, her eyes began to glow with energy. In her hands formed orbs of power; as each CD attempted to attack her, she would shoot.

Cyborg backed away from the possessed video game console asking, "Aw, man; why'd it have to be a video game?" It continued towards him, ready to attack. "Listen, man; this is gonna hurt me a lot more than it's gonna hurt you…" The system only responded by flinging its torn, unplugged wires towards him. Cyborg prepared his blaster and muttered, "Game over."

Meanwhile, Raven was taking on the stereo. She took a step back and cried, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" With that, she was able to grasp the speakers of the object with her mind. By swaying her hands, she pulled the stereo through the air until finally the wires snapped. She quickly hovered out of the way as it crashed towards the floor.

Starfire was having trouble with the CDs. There was an army of them surrounding her; there were too many to blast with only two hands, and emitting a large blast may damage more merchandise than necessary. This was when a green ram popped out of nowhere and trampled them all. Starfire beamed at the creature, "Beast Boy! I shower you with gratitude!"

The animal transformed into a green skinned human, "Don't mention it!" But suddenly, an equally offensive army attacked him, covering him completely. The only difference was that this army consisted of DVDs.

"Oh-no!" Having just been saved by the fallen hero, Starfire felt an obligation to begin blasting the DVDs off of her friend.

Within seconds, though, a gorilla emerged from the pile, smashing his fists on every last disc. He returned to human form. "_DUDE_," Beast Boy whined, "I was attacked by _DISCOUNT_ DVDs!" He seemed to take such an unwanted item as an insult of an enemy.

Robin ignored the distractions and went straight for Control Freak. In his panic, the villain aimed his remote in any random direction. It happened to zap the light on the ceiling, causing a power surge and burnout, but nothing serious. Robin kicked Control Freak to the floor. He lost grip of his remote control, as it slid across the tiles towards Beast Boy. He took the form of a chimp, picking it up and running to give it to Robin.

"Sorry," began Robin, "show's over."

Soon after, the police showed up to take Control Freak away. Robin tried to interrogate them for any flaws in their security system. They just ignored him, which bothered the Boy Wonder. "Why won't they just tell me? I can help!"

"Do not worry about it, Robin," comforted Starfire, "We are victorious!"

"For now…" he stated grimly.

Cyborg didn't seem bothered in the least, "Hey, y'all! Check it out!" He pointed to a cardboard cut-out of a ninja dressed in black holding some sort of ball. "They got the new _Ninja Monster Fighter_!"

"The game where ninjas catch and train monsters to become ninjas?" Beast Boy asked enthusiastically, "Sweet!"

Cyborg found his way to a demo for the game, "I don't have any money on me, but what do ya say we try out the demo?"

"Awesome!" But Cyborg grabbed the controller, which seemed to frustrate Beast Boy, "_Dude_, you can play after me!"

"Nu-uh," the half-robot half-human protested, "I got here first! You'll get your turn, man!"

Behind the Titans walked a father carrying his screaming daughter; her fear was understandable after Control Freak had just had his way. But the little girl's cry quickly wore on Raven's nerves, as she seemed to be having troubles controlling her emotions as of late. In an attempted calm voice, Raven stated, "We're leaving… Now…"

"But, Raven," argued Beast Boy, "I didn't get to play, yet!"

The child's scream grew louder and Raven's eyes began to glow. "NOW…"

The look in her face was all her friends needed to recognize how uncomfortable she was there. They all headed for home.

o-o-o

Upon returning, it was already around noon. "Well, looks like we missed out on breakfast, but who's up for some tofu hotdogs?" asked the green shape-shifter.

"No thanks, B," began Cyborg, "I'll have actual MEAT."

Robin smirked, "I think I'm with Cyborg on this."

Beast Boy edged over by Raven, "_Mmm, tofu hotdogs sounds pretty good, huh?_"

"I'll just have the tea I requested earlier," Raven said as she turned away. She began to head towards her room, "If you still intend to make it, knock on my door when you're done. If you don't intend to make it, just don't bother me."

Starfire called to her, "But friend Raven, you must eat something!"

Raven paused in her steps, "I'm not hungry, Starfire." Having said that, she continued.

The Teen Titans watched in concern as the door shut behind her.

o-o-o

Try as she might, Raven could not find the root to her problem. For weeks she lived each day only partially aware of events and time. Most of her mind was fixated on her emotional troubles, but all that had come to surface was confusion and frustration.

Given the same feelings, someone else may have turned to a friend for help. But Raven wasn't just someone else. She had been raised to use meditation to help herself; no one else could possibly understand her. Hardly anyone would ever even attempt to understand her, let alone want anything to do with her.

The Teen Titans were the only few who wanted to understand and help her. Even so, she never would consider trying to teach them about herself. Raven's problems were hers. She didn't want to get anyone else involved, not only because she was stubborn and independent, but because of the danger it may put them in. The Titans couldn't help but fear Raven, and she knew this…

The offspring of a mortal and a demon, Raven's emotions were far more complicated and loosely strung than your average person's. Always her father's rage needed to be kept locked within her heart.

Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy all had opened her up more than they may have realized. Before joining the Teen Titans, Raven would have never considered the possibility of friends. Nevertheless, she now had them. Life suddenly became more complicated and far more difficult to grasp.

And yet, through the confusion, she had finally found happiness. Friends made her happy, even if she didn't convey it too well. But it wouldn't be long until Raven would come to see this joy as a weakness.

One day the Teen Titans had met Terra, a teenaged girl with the amazing ability to mentally move earthen objects, as in rocks and soil. Although they had wanted her to join the team, Terra ran away in embarrassment when it had been revealed that she could hardly control her powers.

Some time passed, and eventually Terra returned with new found control. Her return must have pleased Beast Boy the most. In the brief time she had been with them before, it was clear that the two of them had great chemistry together. They considered each other their best friend, but it might have secretly meant a bit more to both parties. As for the rest of the Titans, they also welcomed Terra with open arms. This goes for everyone except Raven.

From the moment Terra returned, Raven had suspicions and deemed her untrustworthy. Had Raven been as introverted as she was only a few years ago, she would have clung to these concerns and Terra would have never gotten away with what she did…

Terra soon gained Raven's trust, despite her initial feelings. How? Terra became her friend. Before long, Raven considered Terra a true Teen Titan. Raven considered Terra her friend.

A short while later, the Titans learned how Terra gained control. This was achieved with the aid of Slade, the Teen Titans' worst enemy. The ingenious psychopath was able to manipulate the girl into working for him. Ever since her return, Terra had only Slade's bidding in mind.

Gain the Titans' trust and then strike when least expected. The plan was perfect, and it gave Slade the apprentice he wanted so very much. Terra's betrayal broke the hearts of the Titans, especially Beast Boy's, who's heart contemplated being in love with her.

Raven couldn't help but blame herself. How could she let her guard down? She knew right from the start she should not trust Terra, but she let friendship and happiness cloud her judgment.

Terra was not evil; she had been manipulated. Only Beast Boy was able to convince her that this wasn't what she had wanted. In a final showdown, Terra turned against her master and called the Teen Titans her friends. Immediately afterwards, a volcanic eruption threatened the city and only Terra could stop it. While it appeared that Slade was killed, saving the Titans and the city cost Terra her life, as well.

Immortalized in a shell of volcanic rock, the Titans hopelessly vowed that they would try and find a way to bring their friend back. Silently and shamefully, Raven found comfort in recognizing just how hopeless that would be.

In the end, she did like Terra. She could not deny this fact. But she also knew that she was not to be trusted, no matter what. The only way to ensure she wouldn't betray them again would be to never see her again. Besides, her absence made it easier to ignore the jealousy she felt towards Terra, allowing her to cling to any respect she might deserve.

Even if with Slade's help, Terra accomplished in no time what took Raven her entire life. Terra gained control of her powers. Even with daily meditation, Raven would still have occasional difficulty with her powers, like she was now.

Aside from that, Raven couldn't help but notice the way Terra immediately got along with all of her friends. It took much longer for such friendship to spark between Raven and the others, and even after that she was still the pariah of the Teen Titans.

And what bothered her more than anything was how close she was to Beast Boy. Raven could barely rationalize why it troubled her, which was the main reason it bothered her more than anything else. She had always had difficulty tolerating him, herself. She should have been glad that Beast Boy was spending less time trying to get her to laugh, but she couldn't enjoy the peace. Seeing him and Terra laugh so easily together showed just how much of a burden she must have been on him. The two of them were so close and she saw she could never be like that to…anyone.

Why did reflecting on this trouble her so? And what was troubling her now? Meditation wasn't helping; she couldn't even concentrate long enough to do it properly. Raven's confusion caused a jump of rage. Her eyes glowed red, as the pottery on her dresser was consumed by her power. Subconsciously, she sent it flying across the room, shattering it against the wall.

She was shocked by her act of destruction; such loss of control frightened her. Breathing heavily and fear stricken, Raven turned around to face herself in the mirror.

"_What's wrong with me?_" she whispered to herself.

It was all she could do to calm herself; concentrating on the problem only brought more problems. All she could do was clear her mind as she stood perfectly still staring at herself in the mirror; she stood like this for about ten minutes.

A knock on her door sent her back into reality. Putting her cloak over her head, she walked to the door and opened it a small bit.

There stood Beast Boy with a tray of herbal tea. "Um, I, uh," he awkwardly began, "I have your herbal tea."

For a few seconds the two just stared at each other. Then Raven opened the door wide enough to take the tray from Beast Boy's hands, "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

She began to close the door.

"R-Raven, wait," he blurted out.

She paused, "What is it?"

"Is…Has something been, like, bugging you, lately?"

After a couple of seconds passed, Raven began to close the door again, "That's none of your concern."

Her friend pushed the door further open and held it there. "So something is wrong," he noted, "What is it? Raven, you can tell me!"

"It's none of your concern!"

"Yes it is! I'm your frie—"

He was cut off by abruptly being sent flying back against the hallway wall, "NO IT'S NOT!" Her eyes glowed a crimson red.

Wide-eyed and now with a sense of fear, the shape-shifter remained on the floor staring at Raven.

Raven quickly caught herself; her following actions were to turn around and shut the door.

Only this and nothing more.


	2. Ghost upon the Floor

**Chapter 2 – Ghost upon the Floor**

Raven was lost. Surrounding her was nothing more than darkness as far as the eye could see. She began to wander, aimlessly, across the blackened plain, but it appeared she was getting nowhere. Then again, was there any place to be in this barren land of pitch back? She felt as if she was trapped. The darkness served as her prison, where she had no cellmates.

But the walls began to fall apart. As each piece fell to the black ground, her area seemed to grow. Her surroundings were opening up to a spacious world of white. The black of the floor quickly grouped to nothing but a circle of shadow under Raven's feet.

All of the black had dissolved into this small shadow, with the exception of the darkness that formed another circle of tiny size. For one reason or another, it lay before Raven with no object to make sense of its existence. After staring at it with a bit of confusion for a brief moment, it shot off across the floor.

Wondering where it could be going, Raven chased after the shadow. She ran as quickly as she could, as to not loose sight of it. Finally it stopped under the feet of another person. Slowly, she raised her eyes to meet with his. She recognized him immediately. Surprisingly, she was happy to meet him there. Happy to the point she leaned forward and extended her arms to embrace him.

But before she could, the shadow started to slide across the floor, again. It took along with it the person. She tried to chase after it, once more, but its speed far exceeded her own. As it became a dot on the horizon, the backdrop behind it spread from the boy to bring forth blackness. Then her own shadow expanded, but the darkness now symbolized a hole. She was falling back into it. The darkness consumed her as she fell into her own little underworld.

When it seemed as if everything was gone, when it seemed as if nothing or anyone was there, she heard the blood draining scream of the companion she had been happy to see, followed up by several others. Then just as an image began to come into focus, she woke up, finding herself in her room.

When her heart finally stopped racing, she could hear someone calling from outside her door. It was Starfire, and it sounded as if she were looking for Beast Boy.

"Beast Boy! Beast Boy!" She heard the muffled cries as she sat up in bed. The door opened a crack as Starfire whispered, "Beast Boy? Are you present?"

"This is my room, Starfire."

The Tamaranean let out a shriek as she jumped in surprise of Raven's voice, "Oh! Raven! I did not know you were awake!"

"Why would Beast Boy be in _my_ room?" she inquired.

Starfire blushed as if she, too, recognized how strange such an occurrence would be. "Yes, well, when he could not be located anywhere else I did not know where else to look!"

"What?" she questioned, "What happened to him?"

Robin, who had come running when he heard Starfire's shriek, stated, "Beast Boy's gone missing. His communicator's been deactivated and we can't find him anywhere."

A sense of worry suddenly overcame Raven's emotions. Blood rushed from her face, making her already fair skin paler. To hurriedly extinguish such emotion she normally would not have shown in the first place, she suddenly became hostile.

"Well, he's not in here," she snapped, as she raised an arm and shut the door with her powers.

o-o-o

But her worry could not be denied. After leaving her room, despite her exhaustion Raven joined the others in their search of every nook and cranny of the Tower. Though it wouldn't make much sense for Beast Boy to become some small creature and hide, they had nothing else to go on. Just as Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven were thoroughly searching the lounge together, the alarm sounded. Robin entered with some bad news.

"Check it out, y'all," Cyborg called after looking beneath the couch, "I found the remote."

Robin ignored him. "There's been a jailbreak."

Starfire pondered, "Who's escaped?"

"Just about everyone."

It had happened the night before, but no one had been aware until the morning security shift came in. The night shift had mysteriously disappeared.

In his frustration, Robin had exaggerated, although it was large scale. Only those on the first level of the southern block had escaped; apparently the walls had openings crashed into them leading to the secondary grounds. There was no telling where most of the common criminals were by this point, but there were reports on Cinderblock's whereabouts.

Cinderblock, who had been a common pawn of Slade's, had undergone a fusion at one point with two other monsters, Plasmas and Overload. Since then, they had defused. Now he tore through city streets in his personal destructive manor. Utterly lost, the Jump City Police Department was forced to call, once again, on the Teen Titans. But they'd have to manage one Titan short.

"We've got a lead on Cinderblock. We have to lock him up as soon as possible."

"Can't that wait?" Raven questioned orders.

Raising an eyebrow, Robin stated plainly, "No, it can't. People's lives are in danger."

Not being able to ignore the feeling deep within her, Raven spurted, "What if Beast Boy's in danger?"

"Well, hopelessly searching the Tower won't help. We can take it to the streets after Cinderblock is taken care of."

And so the Titans were on their way.

o-o-o

After flipping a car, Cinderblock felt something hit his back. Before he could figure out what it was, it exploded, knocking him to his knees. He looked over his shoulder to see the Teen Titans.

Robin, who had thrown the bomb, told him, "Sorry for not giving you a warning line. We're on a bit of a tight schedule."

Cinderblock merely growled and charged towards them as Cyborg charged his blaster, Starfire gathered energy, Robin got into his stance, and Raven prepared her mind.

First up was Cyborg, blasting the enemy about fifteen feet backwards. Before he could stand back up, Starfire swooped down with her raging starbolts. Quickly following Starfire's barrage, Robin flew through the air to land a kick clear in his face. After Robin jumped off, however, Cinderblock sat up straight and let out a roar.

In the middle of his cry, he was muted by a black atmosphere, while a nearby fire hydrant exploded creating a fountain. Within a second, Cinderblock shot into the air where he could not be seen.

Cyborg, Starfire, and Robin simply stared at Raven in awe. Starfire attempted to ask, "Where did he—?" until she was cut off with Cinderblock's abrupt landing to the ground.

It was such an intense blow, the tyrant was out cold.

The three were surprised by Raven's outburst. "We are victorious?" asked Starfire, staggered by how quickly Raven defeated the enemy.

Not even thinking about how they had versed Cinderblock in the past and he had broken out, Robin simply responded, "Yeah; looks like it."

Trying to change the subject, Cyborg intervened, "So we should start looking for Beast Boy, now?"

"Right," agreed Robin, "I'll wait here for the police. Titans, split and search."

"Gotcha," Cyborg replied.

o-o-o

Raven, Starfire, and Cyborg began scouring the city for Beast Boy, but no matter where they looked they turned up empty handed.

o-o-o

Upon entering a gaming store, Cyborg shouted, "Yo, B! You in here?" But there was no reply. He continued his search checking other places of Beast Boy's interests the city had to offer; all of his attempts were fruitless.

o-o-o

Meanwhile, Starfire searched just about every inch she came across. She didn't know any specific places he might be. When she met with a stray cat she hoped for a moment she had found the lost Titan. "But you are not green," she observed, gloomily. "Perhaps you may lead me in Beast Boy's direction?"

The cat simply stared coldly at Starfire until it turned away down the alley. Not knowing what else to do, Starfire hovered behind. Eventually, the cat realized it had been being followed. Stopping in mid step, it turned its head back to acknowledge Starfire's presence with a _meow_.

After first jumping atop a box, the stray leapt into a garbage can. Starfire slowly peered inside, "Beast Boy? Are you in the foul smelling container of waste?" Unfortunately, she turned away with a sigh, "No, you are not."

o-o-o

Now desperate, Raven attempted meditating in all of the corners of the city to try and sense his presence. Putting forth all of the concentration that she could, there was no trace she could find.

As hours passed and morning became afternoon which just began to turn to night, Raven found herself simply looking towards the ocean from Pier 41. But a feeling she had made her turn around to look within a warehouse. Whatever she had noticed ran back into the warehouse, and she cased after it.

o-o-o

Robin had been there to monitor Cinderblock's apprehension. Throughout the course of the day, the walls were being fixed and Cinderblock would return to his top security room. But the Boy Wonder still persisted he get some answers, "Tell me how all of this happened! How in the world would walls just tumble down? There's got to be a flaw in your system! Please, I can help!"

The officer scowled at him, "How can we be so sure about that?"

"_What are you saying?_ _I'm a Teen Titan!_ Protecting the innocent, imprisoning evil; _that's my duty!_"

Another officer held an item in his hand, "You tell me how this ended up here, Bird Boy."

Robin took it, with a look of shock and worry overwhelming his face.

o-o-o

Elsewhere, Mike Hinderson and Bill Smith were prepared to rob the bank. They had escaped from prison earlier during the massive jailbreak and were already up to no good as Bill fired his handgun towards the ceiling. Despite some screams, everyone fell silent and attentive.

"Alright, everyone, listen up," cried Mike, "All we's need is some cash to get us on our feet! Start a new life the heck away from this city and those Teen Titans! Bill's gonna make sure none of yous tries leavin! And you! Fill up this bag with five thousand! C'mon; hurry up!"

The man at the desk did as he was told, taking the bag and filling it while at gunpoint.

About to enter the bank was Cyborg. He had exhausted his knowledge of the logical places Beast Boy might have gone and just started turning into every building and asking every person if they had seen him. Though trying to keep his cool, the worry started to grow.

Behind Bill's back, Cyborg opened the door. Noticing immediately that this was a robbery, Cyborg knocked Bill out with one blow.

The man handed Mike the bag, "See that? No one's got to get hurt!"

Emotionlessly, Cyborg knocked him to the other end of the room. He turned to the thoroughly terrified and confused man at the counter and asked, "Yo, you seen my friend, Beast Boy? Teen Titan, kinda short, green skin, turns into green animals…"

He simply shook his head.

"A'right; thanks anyway." Cyborg left the bank.

o-o-o

Starfire rested atop the tallest skyscraper, sitting hunched over and hugging her knees. She gazed up into the stars and moon, not knowing where else to look.

"Friend, where have you gone missing to? We are all worried about you… I do not understand how one can simply vanish as you did. What happened to you? Where have you gone, and why have you gone there?" She became teary eyed.

"Was it something I have done? Was there an Earth custom I did not execute properly that offended you? Oh, I am sorry I did not always find humor in your jokes! I am sorry I did not join you in playing the video games! I am sure the others are sorry for any offense they may have caused; we all care about you!

"You are not a klor-bag varblernelk… You are a friend. Beast Boy, please come home…"

o-o-o

Raven stared blankly at the empty warehouse. If she had seen a figure, it was gone, now.

"Beast Boy," she called, "are you in here? Answer me!"

She was met with no reply. Heart-pounding and worry rising, Raven stepped back out onto the pier.

o-o-o

Outside the streetlights shined brighter than usual. Smiling beneath a lamppost was Dr. Light, "Let the light shine! It won't be long until I reach the heart of the city!"

An explosion from Pier 41 caught his attention. Raven, having overwhelming emotion, had unintentionally destroyed a light. Seeing her robe flowing in the breeze sent chills up Dr. Light's spine.

Suddenly an image flashed in his mind. It was an experience he had blocked from his memory, but jolted back when he saw her. She had put him in the dark. It was utter darkness, as far as the eye could see. Terrible thoughts of his past deeds had played before his eyes; every sin he had ever committed. He faced it all in that short moment in her boundless darkness, a moment that had seemed an eternity.

He turned around, "Maybe I'll just turn myself back in."

o-o-o

Raven paid no mind to the things around her that were being affected by her worry. She simply attempted to clear her mind and meditate. As she began to calm down, her communicator rang.

Upon answering it she heard Robin's voice, "Titans. I've got some…news."

o-o-o

Cyborg wandered the streets as Robin spoke his message, "Cyborg, Raven. Head back to the Tower. Star, do you think you could give me a lift? I'm at the prison."

o-o-o

Leaping from the skyscraper and souring through the air, Starfire responded, "Of course."

"Thanks. Cyborg and Raven, wait for us in the lounge. You're going to want to hear this."

The three Titans wondered what this nameless news Robin had gathered could be.

Nameless here for evermore.


	3. Fantastic Terrors Never Felt Before

**Chapter 3 – Fantastic Terrors Never Felt Before**

Somehow Cyborg had managed to fight his way through the evening city crowds and returned to the Tower. Upon his entrance, he found Raven simply standing and waiting for the arrival of Robin.

"Hey, Rae," Cyborg stepped closer to her, "No luck finding BB?"

She simply turned away from him, seeking comfort in the isolation given by covering herself with her cloak.

"Yeah, that's what I thought…"

The automatic door opened up, but Raven remained hunched under her cloak and not looking. Cyborg directed his attention to Starfire hovering into the room, followed closely by Robin, looking as serious as ever.

Coldly, Robin instructed, "Get around the table."

Cyborg took a few steps, but then looked back at Raven who wasn't moving. "Uh, Raven…"

Slowly, she forced her back straight and hovered above the floor as she found her seat at the table. Cyborg sat next to her and Starfire took the other side of Raven.

"What is the news you wish to share with us?" questioned Starfire, who hadn't been able to get a word out of him as she brought him home.

Robin didn't face his team as he slouched with his head held low. He took a deep breath, exhaled, but then couldn't stall any longer.

He swung around quickly, tossing a Teen Titan communicator on the table. It slid directly in front of them.

"A communicator?" Starfire noted.

"Beast Boy's communicator."

Cyborg wondered, "What does this mean?"

"Have you located our friend?" Starfire questioned with some hope.

"This was all there was," Robin began, "at the scene of the jailbreak."

Starfire's eyes widened, showing her confusion and worry.

"Aw, man," Cyborg began in only slightly above a whisper, "What's that got to do with him?"

"Well, so far I've only been able to come up with three conclusions." Robin's eyes narrowed as he paced back and forth in deep thought, "One: There was a call late at night about the jailbreak. Beast Boy was the only one who answered, and he went to try and stop it on his own. His communicator being found there and his not returning to us imply he was defeated…badly.

"But if this were the case, why? Why would he go on his own? Beast Boy wouldn't try taking on something like this alone; not something that huge. And how could none of us hear the alarm? Though I wouldn't rule it out completely, it seems unlikely.

"Two: He was abducted. I'm convinced there was a mastermind behind the massive breakout. Whoever that mastermind was might have taken Beast Boy first for any of a number of things. Maybe he wanted to use him as a hostage if we found them out. Or maybe the mastermind just wanted us one member short.

"But why would they choose Beast Boy? Not to belittle his abilities, but it seems pretty random. If Beast Boy had been specifically chosen, might they have had a connection to him in the past? He never told me much about his history, but I don't think he's made any enemies.

"But maybe an abduction meant more than securing themselves. This brings me to conclusion number three: Beast Boy's the enemy. He could have just snapped, rushed out of here, and crashed the walls of the prison as a…a rhino or something. But I just can't see that. What I can see is Beast Boy being manipulated, though."

Lifting her head, Raven questioned sternly, "What are you saying?"

Robin stopped pacing and scanned over his team. "What if someone else is pulling Beast Boy's strings? It's not much to go on, but the only evidence at the prison points to Beast Boy! An assortment of large animals could have destroyed those walls! I'm not sure what happened to the night shift, but Beast Boy could have done something! But he wouldn't have; not unprovoked! My guess is someone's manipulated him! Have we forgotten how twisted Terra became?"

"Or you," added Cyborg.

"Or me," Robin repeated, scornfully reflecting on his past mistakes.

With fear evident in her voice, Raven noted, "That means Beast Boy could be in danger…"

"But we've searched everywhere and there is no sign of Beast Boy nor a manipulator," observed Starfire.

"Not yet. Only time will tell what really happened to Beast Boy," Robin started, "In the meantime, I think it'd be best not to get too hung up on it. We'll learn soon enough."

o-o-o

But later that evening, when Robin retired to his room for the night, he would not follow his own advice; he couldn't. He couldn't help it when he felt he had a good idea who the mastermind was…

He reviewed the newspaper clippings on the walls of his "deep thought" room to try and find any connection to prove his theory was well-founded.

'CINDERBLOCK JAIL BREAK'

'RED X – MASTER THEIF'

'EARTHQUAKE DISASTER'

'WHO IS SLADE?'

'SLADE DEFEATED; TEEN TITANS VICTORY'

'SLADE STRIKES AGAIN'

'MEET TERRA – THE NEW TEEN TITAN'

'TITAN TRAITOR'

In his frustration, Robin slammed a fist on the wall.

"Whoever's behind this," he muttered to himself, "they won't get away with it. They won't get away with endangering the innocent. Be it…him…or anyone else."

o-o-o

Raven couldn't help but get hung up on it, though she was supposed to be able to control her mind.

Upon closing the door behind her, she fell to her knees. "Where is he?" she wondered. "What's happened to him?"

Her worry rose as an endless assortment of questions passed through her mind. Every object in her room began to orbit her at a fast pace. The books flew off their shelves to join the rotation.

"Did he go on his own? Was he abducted? Was he manipulated? Has he left us? What's making me worry this much? Did that dream mean something? Is he okay? He wouldn't just walk into danger, would he? He's foolish! He would! _But he wouldn't!_ _No! But then what's happened?_" She hunched over a bit.

"Where is he," she shouted. Her eyes shined red as she screamed, "WHY DO I CARE?"

Every object that had been moving hurtled at great speeds until they crashed into the wall, as Raven sat on her knees in silence. Upon impact, they were no longer animated.

She lowered herself even more; her face was now touching the floor. Slowly, the objects levitated, again. Very leisurely, the items resumed their orbit around the girl.

She had begun weeping.

But she'd have to cope with her emotions, as crime never rests.

o-o-o

"Titans, GO!"

Jinx said coolly, "Teen Titans, your luck's just run out."

Robin, who had been in the lead running towards the three former Hive Academy students, Mammoth, Gizmo, and Jinx, was suddenly swept off his feet and sent tumbling backwards due to Jinx's telekinetic powers. Starfire turned around to help him, as Cyborg and Raven pushed forward.

Cyborg approached Gizmo who asked, "Hey, where's Beast Booger?"

"Couldn't make it," Cyborg replied as he swung a punch. Activating robotic spider legs to sprout from his back, Gizmo dodged and moved backwards.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," Raven cried, making an extension of herself with a mailbox and shooting it towards Mammoth.

He somehow managed to catch it and remove it from Raven's control. Upon doing so, he condensed the mailbox into a small, uneven ball of metal. He smirked as Raven watched in shock. "Take this!"

He hurtled the object towards Raven at such velocity not even she could avoid being hit. The impact knocked her down on the pavement, but she wasn't out of the game. Suddenly her eyes turned blood red.

Robin rubbed his aching head as he sat up on the road. Starfire knelt beside him, "Robin, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm—Look out!" About to pummel the two of them was a barrage of hex waves from Jinx.

Starfire quickly lifted Robin and flew him and herself away from the danger. Jinx refused to quit, however, and continued shooting waves towards them as they soared through the air. Starfire shot her eye beams at each.

"Starfire, aim for Jinx! I'll secure your path!" With that, Robin jumped out of Starfire's grasp. Twirling through the air, Robin used his cape as a shield to deflect any waves that threatened to hurt Starfire.

Concentrating on placing her hexes, Jinx was surprised when a sudden starbolt shot into her. She fell backwards, landing on the street.

Cyborg grabbed the four of Gizmo's robotic legs, nearly tearing them off.

The tiny technology wiz, Gizmo, shouted, "Aw, crud!"

Before Cyborg could detach the legs, Gizmo pressed a button on his chest, causing each leg to explode. Cyborg was damaged in the explosion, but he'd be able to repair himself later.

By the time he looked up, Gizmo now had a jet pack activated. Cyborg charged his blaster and aimed towards Gizmo. He panicked for a second, but then dodged the blast. Each time Cyborg fired, Gizmo would avoid it.

Nearby, with eyes that had calmed to a glow of white, Raven chased after the terrified Mammoth.

Meanwhile, Robin lifted Jinx by the shoulders and pressed her against the wall of a building. "Know anything about yesterday's jailbreak?"

"Let go of me!"

"I will when you give me some answers!"

"I don't know anything!"

"_Is that so? Sure you haven't heard a thing? Or are you just trying to fool us?_"

She prepared to use her powers to get Robin off of her, but he took her by surprise when he slammed her into the wall harshly. "I don't know anything," she repeated.

"_YOU'RE LYING!_" Robin tossed her onto the ground. He extended his retractable pole with the end at her neck.

"Robin! That is enough!" Starfire cried.

Robin squinted untrustingly at Jinx, not moving his pole, but by Starfire's request would not push his threat any further.

Raven's blackness now had a grip on Mammoth's leg, as her uncontrolled hatred began to pull him inward. "GUYS, HELP ME!"

Gizmo pulled out a remote and pushed a button. With that, he began to fade away, "Later, pit-sniffer."

Cyborg asked, "Where're you goin?"

Also disappearing were Jinx and Mammoth. Robin was left threatening no one, and Raven was forced back into herself as there was no one to direct the hate towards.

The remaining Teen Titans: Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven.

This is it and nothing more.


	4. Your Forgiveness I Implore

**Chapter 4 – Your Forgiveness I Implore**

Slade. Robin wouldn't change his theory, even if there was no evidence; the mastermind behind everything big the Titans had faced was always Slade. Robin failed to give Brother Blood proper credit when he compared the two. Slade was evil, and brilliantly so.

But he couldn't tell the others what he thought; they'd worry about him. Robin knew how obsessive he could get when it came to Slade.

He once assumed the identity of "Red X", a master thief who seemed to want to form a partnership with Slade. The worst thing about his plan of being a criminal to get dirt on a criminal was that he felt he couldn't tell his friends. He thought they'd hold back when fighting him making it less believable, but what it really boiled down to was trust. It didn't matter; Slade knew it was him, anyway. He would never forget being Red X, and he would never make a mistake like that again.

Also, he had fairly recently been made painfully aware of how crazy he can get on the subject.

The others thought he had completely lost his mind when he began seeing Slade everywhere he went. He even felt Slade's attacks, and Robin was always the one losing. None of the Titans believed his claims of Slade still being alive. When Starfire couldn't see him, he had shamefully yelled at her. And when the Titans tried to stop him, he threatened to take down anyone who got in his way of stopping Slade.

Slade had supposedly died in a pit of lava. But Robin had felt he was still out there, and that one time he thought he knew. As it turns out, while rummaging through the remnants of Slade artifacts a chemical reagent had been present, ready to infiltrate Robin's central nervous system. When Robin finally learned that Slade was an illusion, the others were able to help remove the reagent from his system.

So he couldn't blindly tell the others it was Slade. He just couldn't. He'd think it through more clearly; jumping to conclusions only hurt those he cared about. He didn't want to be against his team. He didn't want to hurt Starfire, again.

Days had passed, and no sign of Beast Boy.

o-o-o

"Mornin, ya'll," Cyborg yawned, as he walked into the room where Starfire and Raven had been occupying silently.

Unenthusiastically, Starfire replied, "Greetings, Cyborg." She flew across the room to her friend to whisper a message in his ear. "Have you noticed Raven's state as of late? She did not respond when I greeted her this morning, or any of the mornings since Beast Boy went missing." The two peered over at Raven, who sat motionlessly on the couch with her legs folded and hood up.

Even if Raven kept her distance, she'd always try to acknowledge Starfire who seemed to have taken the role of her best friend. Though taking the situation seriously, Cyborg tried to lighten his expression as he approached Raven from behind. "Hey, Raven. Want some breakfast?" he asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

A black shockwave zapped his metallic arm, making Cyborg retract his appendage immediately.

"I already had breakfast," Raven replied.

Cyborg was somewhat stunned, "_You did?_ What'd you have?"

Still not moving, she muttered, "Herbal tea."

"Raven, that is all you've had for days! Tea cannot keep you well! You need food also," cried Starfire.

"I'm fine, Starfire!"

"No, you are not," the alien girl protested, "Please; allow me to prepare for you a miracle-working Tamaranean meal! It replenishes the body and puts at ease the mind!"

"_Why would I need my mind at ease?_" Raven snapped.

"Because you are worried for the safety of Beast Boy," Starfire explained.

Raven quickly turned around and levitated towards Starfire, with a terribly menacing look on her face, "I DON'T NEED YOUR HOME REMEDIES, STARFIRE. I DON'T KNOW HOW THEY DO THINGS ON TAMARAN, BUT THIS CULTURE IS DIFFERENT; SOMEONE WHO'S SUPPOSED TO ENFORCE THE LAW ISN'T SUPPOSED TO BE OFFERING THEIR MIRACLE DRUGS." The furniture in the room was shaking.

Hiding behind Cyborg, Starfire's eyes filled with tears as Raven scolded her. Voice shaking, she responded, "_I-I am sorry; I was—I simpl—_"

Cyborg shielded Starfire with his titanium body and looked directly towards the demonic Raven. "_Yo! Lay off Starfire! She was just trying to help!_"

Raven stared Cyborg right in the eye with her glowing hateful ones. Even so, Cyborg remained unwavering. In her frustration, she turned around and hovered towards the door; her effect on the room's furniture dissolved.

He hadn't meant to scare her off, "Raven! Wait!" The door shut behind her. He let out a sigh.

He never really understood Raven, but he knew maybe none of them should. He had always stood firm in leaving her to her privacy. Even if they hardly knew her, she knew herself. He always felt if she wanted time alone, she should never be deprived it. When he had come to learn just how tremendously difficult containing her emotions was, he harbored an immense respect for her.

But now he was not so sure being alone did Raven any good. He had seen Raven acting more introverted for weeks, but now more than ever she seemed unstable. Maybe she needed somebody; everyone gets lonely sometimes. But taking her aggravation out on everybody else was not the right way to handle it.

But maybe she didn't know what to do about worry. And she was worried about Beast Boy…

Beast Boy…

"_Rekmas._"

"Huh?" Suddenly, Cyborg had lost his train of thought.

"_I'm sorry_," she apologized for using her native language. "_Rekmas; the drifting. Beast Boy is missing, and Raven is filled with anguish and hate._" Starfire held her head low as tears began to run down her face.

"_Hey_," Cyborg lifted her head and looked into her eyes. His face appeared soft and reassuring, "_We're never gonna drift apart from each other, Star. We'll always be friends. All of us; forever. Right up to the end._"

Starfire was able to salvage some comfort from his words. She wiped a tear and wore a petite smile.

"_It's okay_," Cyborg reassured her.

The alarm began, and Starfire took a step away from Cyborg. When the door opened, Robin stood in the frame. "Trouble downtown."

He scanned over his two teammates and couldn't help but notice it looked as if Starfire had been crying. Robin's look became concerned, "Starfire… Everything okay?"

The Tamaranean bowed her head as to avoid direct eye-contact with Robin. "_Y-Yes; everything is fine_," she lied. She didn't want Robin to know how she really felt; he was too preoccupied in finding out what happened to Beast Boy and who had staged the jailbreak. She didn't want to bother him with her feelings.

o-o-o

Today marked the grand opening of a new electronics emporium, with plenty of connected monitors just begging to be hacked into with a hypno-screen.

"'Ello-'ello," came through the speakers for all customers and employees to hear. Every screen in the store now had the image of Mad Mod, a delightfully insane Brit who felt the need to re-educate the American populous according to his twisted crime-filled lifestyle. "Pay close attention, now, my duckies!"

The Mad Mod on the screen was a young man, but this Mad Mod was an illusion. While he was gray and balding, he preferred to show the world his red-headed young self. The people watched the British man with confusion, when suddenly the image was replaced by a black and white spiral. The customers could not avert their eyes from the visual twirl, as they felt their minds slowly being washed away. Mad Mod's menacing laughter was emitted through the speakers, though none of the listeners were paying attention.

o-o-o

Soon after, the Teen Titans arrived on the scene, flinging open the front door.

"Tisk, tisk, tisk! Late again, I see? That's detention for the whole lot of you!"

The four recognized the voice immediately. "Mad Mod," Robin acknowledged.

"Class has already started! Lemme fill you in on what you missed!" The screens once again aired the hypnotic spiral of black and white.

"Don't look at the screens!" Robin warned, although the others were well aware. The Titans looked towards the ground.

"'Ey! Pay attention!" the psycho commanded.

Robin pulled out his communicator, which dueled as a locator for a number of different signals. One was coming from nearby.

"Class, get your fellow students to sit still and listen to teacher!" Upon Mad Mod's request, an army of zombie-minded civilians emerged from every corner of the store. The heroes were forced to attack the innocent as they tried to grab them and force them to watch the screens.

Finally having had enough of Mad Mod's games, Raven completely exploded with rage. Upon all of the people came a shadow of blackness. Each person stopped in their tracks and dropped to their knees. Just as they began falling to the ground one-by-one, several of the screens exploded.

"RAVEN!" yelled Robin and Starfire in unison. The two grabbed opposite arms to try and snap her out of her eruption.

Realizing what she had done, she was shocked and frightened by her loss of control. After the shadow dissolved, Raven forced herself out of the grasp of Robin and Starfire. Head held low, she slowly backed into the corner.

Mad Mod's hypnosis had been broken and the people had now been made painfully aware of their identities; Raven's blanket had brought to mind all of their worst fears and past misdeeds. Now all were sprawled on the floor, hearts racing. Their eyes were opened wide and bloodshot.

The surviving monitors showed a flabbergasted Brit, "_…Right, then…_" The screens turned off as Robin double-checked his communicator.

o-o-o

Mad Mod was about to abandon his equipment and make a run for it when the door swung open with Robin and Starfire in the frame.

He cowered below Robin as the Boy Wonder stared down at the old man and grabbed his shirt collar. "_Heh heh… 'Ello, Governor!_"

o-o-o

Raven was still hunched over in the corner when Cyborg came up from behind. "Hey, Rae," he started, trying to keep his voice calm, "Anything you wanna talk about?"

Wearily and quietly, Raven muttered, "_No…_"

But he knew something was seriously wrong with her emotional state. Trying to reach out to her now was dangerous, but he wanted to help her through this. First he hesitated, then blurted out, "What's wrong, Raven?"

"NOTHING IS WRONG."

Now losing his calm façade, he pointed to the people sprawled on the floor, "_Something_ is wrong!"

Anger rising, Raven refused to face him.

"What is it? You've been acting weird for weeks, and ever since B disappeared you've been even worse! Now, I don't know exactly what's going on, but—"

"OF COURSE YOU DON'T," Raven shouted in a demonic voice as she turned to face him, "NOBODY DOES! NO ONE COULD POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND HOW I FEEL—HOW I THINK! I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS!"

Raven had apparently stuck a cord. When she actually focused on the image of Cyborg, he was seething with rage. In his frustration, he punched his fist through the wall. "SURE, RAVEN! NOBODY UNDERSTANDS WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE SAD! NONE OF US HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED PAIN IN OUR LIVES! EVERYTHING'S JUST PERFECT; IS THAT WHAT YOU THINK?"

She soon lost the fierce spark in her eyes, assuming her hunched cowardly look again. Cyborg continued, "You think I like being a freak? Do you? Things weren't supposed to be this way! All I ever wanted was to be _normal_! And when I was in high school, I finally started to feel like I was! Things were great! Had a girl, lots of friends," Cyborg reminisced, "_Man, I was gonna be an Olympian!_"

Raven listened, trying to avoid eye-contact. "But then _this_ had to happen! And I lost all of it! I wasn't allowed to participate in sports! I lost all of my friends! Man, I didn't want ANYTHING to do with my dad! I wanted to just DIE! I WISHED I HAD DIED!"

His anger spent, his tone became a bit softer, "Hey, I'm worried about Beast Boy, too. I guess I…I guess I always looked at you guys as younger brothers and sisters. I always wanna be there for you.

"I found comfort in the Teen Titans because I felt like I fit in. No offense, but I felt, as a freak, I belonged with other freaks. But Beast Boy… Man, he was so insecure; sometimes I think he felt like a freak among freaks. From what I saw, I like to think that around me he felt…safer. More comfortable. I was like his big brother, and now he's missing… I couldn't help him…

"Look, I know life can be rough. But taking it out on us or—or anyone else; you can't do that."

Raven still wouldn't dare face him; especially not now, as a tear rolled down her face. In a whisper she muttered, "_I'm sorry…_"

"It's okay… Don't worry; we'll get to the bottom of this… And everything will be okay…"

o-o-o

Raven had taken his words to heart; she really needed to get a hold on her emotions. Later that night when a new crime was taking place, Raven told the others that she needed to stay behind. She had something to do.

o-o-o

Control Freak grinned at the familiar girl, "Remember me, my little Princess Okoy?"

Fear stricken, she blurted, "_W-Weren't you in jail?_"

"It's been two weeks! Where's my _Intergalactic Glory_ special edition?"

"_W-Well, I figured you wouldn't be coming back, so I ended up selling your copy!_"

"You did _what?_ What about my ten dollar deposit? Don't I at least get a refund?"

"No refunds," Robin began, Starfire and Cyborg behind him, "but we're returning you…to prison." The Titans faced Control Freak's back. When he didn't move, Robin told him, "Just give up… It's kinda been a rough day…"

The villain seemed to have reached into his coat, pulled something out, and put it over his face. With a slightly muffled voice, he inquired, "You're old mentor never told you what happened to your father, did he?"

Now becoming more serious, Robin narrowed his eyes and stated sternly, "I know what happened to my father."

"No, Robin," Control Freak turned around to face the three of them. "I _am_ your father…"

Over his face was the mask of Slade.

Suddenly everything in Robin's world was muted, save for the heavy breathing of Control Freak. He stared in awe for a number of seconds before completely loosing it.

"Robin!"

He leapt on top of Control Freak and pinned him to the floor. He quickly pulled the mask from his face, revealing an utterly terrified man.

"HOW DID YOU GET THIS?"

"_I-I-I don't know! I just found it!_"

"WHERE DID YOU FIND IT?"

"_It was at the prison! The night you brought me in! The jailbreak! I found it outside! I thought it was cool, so—so I took it!_"

"Robin, calm yourself, please!" begged Starfire.

o-o-o

Meanwhile, Raven stood outside her door. She'd need to be left alone. She needed to put her mind at rest, somehow. She opened the door and gazed inside.

Darkness there and nothing more.


	5. Deep Into that Darkness Peering

**Chapter 5 – Deep Into that Darkness Peering**

After apprehending Control Freak, the three returned to the Tower to discuss this new evidence; they did not wish to disturb Raven, though. Cyborg and Starfire stood on opposite ends of the room while Robin viciously paced back and forth. On the couch lay the mask.

"_Robin_," Starfire whispered, meekly.

Pausing in mid-step, Robin turned to her, "What is it?"

"_Please…try to remain calm…_"

"Sorry," he began, "It's kinda hard to, knowing some psychopath is out there just planning their next attack!"

"_I'm sorry…_"

Robin sighed, "No; no, don't be sorry, Starfire. I'll try to keep my head on straight."

"You know that mask doesn't necessarily mean it was Slade," Cyborg began, "Could be a cover-up. I mean, why would the guy leave his mask there?"

"Lots of criminals like to leave a calling card. Even though they're hiding, it gives them a way to make themselves known and feel important," Robin explained. "It might have been a cover-up, though. Maybe the jailbreak and abduction of Beast Boy was a group project, which would give them less to boast about."

"But where would they have found a reproduction of Slade's mask?" asked Starfire.

"I…don't know." Robin walked over to the coach. He picked up the mask and stared into the eye. "Guys, don't freak out or anything, but… Even though it makes way more sense that Slade is just a cover-up in this case, I can't shake the feeling that it's him… That he's still out there… I know; I know I get carried away. I won't this time. I promise. Not until I have more evidence, anyway…"

The three stood in awkward silence until it was broken by Cyborg's deep breath. "Robin… It _does_ make more sense that the Slade thing is a cover-up… But maybe you ought to know that your theory is more rational than you think."

"_What?_" He averted his eyes from the mask in his hands towards his teammate.

"It wasn't too long ago when I caught you with Slade on the brain, rummaging through his old stuff. And it turned out it was coated with a chemical reagent that—"

"—made me see and feel Slade; I know," Robin interrupted. "I know what happened, Cyborg. It was his last trick."

Cyborg knew he should have told Robin this news right away, but he didn't want to get him paranoid. Now he really wished he had, as his throat turned dry. "Yeah, as far as we know, it was. But I found that the reagent didn't activate on its own. Somebody triggered it from outside…"

The mask fell from his hand as the Boy Wonder began to quiver. In a forced calm voice, he asked, "_Why didn't you tell me as soon as you found out?_"

"You just had the shock of your life, man; you didn't need to be fueled by anything else."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You get way too into it! There was no reason to get you all worked up about it!"

"NO REASON?" Robin laughed, "_I think SLADE still being ALIVE is a pretty good reason!_"

"We don't know if it was him!"

"Who else could it be?"

"It coulda been anyone!"

"_Like who?_"

"I don't know! Anyone Slade mighta had contacts with!"

"AND YOU DON'T THINK _I_ MIGHT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO PROVIDE SOME INSIGHT?"

"_SEE? THIS IS WHY I DIDN'T TELL YOU!_"

"BECAUSE YOU _WANTED_ HIM TO COME UP WITH A NEW PLAN? YOU _WANT_ HIM TO WIN?"

"DON'T ACT LIKE _I'M_ THE BAD GUY, HERE!"

"_Did you even think? Did you? Did you even think what he could be plotting? Now he's started, and already he's got a jailbreak and kidnapping under his belt. And it could have been avoided if you'd have just TOLD ME HE HAD TRIGGERED IT!_"

"We _DON'T KNOW_ who triggered the reagent! We _DON'T KNOW_ who staged the jailbreak! And we _DON'T KNOW_ what happened to Beast Boy! You're _SUPPOSED_ to be our leader! You're _SUPPOSED_ to come to _LOGICAL_ conclusions!_ GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT, LEADER!_"

"MAYBE I COULD IF MY_ TEAMMATE _TRUSTED ME WITH _THE FACTS! _I'M NOT SOME STUPID KID, CYBORG! I CAN HANDLE THE TRUTH!"

"_ME_ NOT TRUST _YOU?_ LOOK AT _YOURSELF_ BEFORE PLAYING THE BLAME GAME, _ROBIN!_ WHAT ABOUT _RED X, HUH?_ _YOU'RE_ the one who _LIED_ to us! _YOU'RE_ the one who kept _ALL OF US_ IN THE DARK!"

Robin stomped over to Cyborg and looked straight into his eyes. "_THAT WAS A MISTAKE._"

"AND IT LOOKS LIKE _I_ MADE A MISTAKE, _TOO!_ NOW IT LOOKS LIKE I _SHOULD HAVE_ TOLD YOU; I'M SORRY! I'M HUMAN! I MAKE MISTAKES!" shouted Cyborg, staring right back at Robin.

"_You could have waited until the next day to tell me if you were worried_," Robin started. "_You could have waited a week! _When did you _intend_ to tell me, Cyborg? When something went wrong? When Slade returned? _WHEN WE WERE DYING AT THE HANDS OF HIM?_"

"MAN, SHUT UP!"

Though the room fell silent, an unseen fire was raging between the two. In an attempt to restore peace, Starfire defended Cyborg's case. "Robin… We did not tell you because we were worried for you. It is not as if we were all conspiring against you."

Robin stared directly towards her, "_You were in on it, too?_"

"_I—um…_"

"_You ALL were?_"

"_Man, leave her alone! She didn't want you to get hurt! None of us did! We didn't know what to do!_"

Robin backed away from Cyborg, shaking his head. "_I can't believe my team wouldn't tell me the truth…_"

"_Robin!_" cried Starfire.

But he had turned around and left the room.

"This _really_ has not been my day…" Cyborg reflected.

o-o-o

Elsewhere in the Tower, Raven had been attempting to meditate. It would seem every time she would get into a semi-tranquil state of mediation, terrible images would flash in her mind's eye.

They'd only exist for a second, and when she opened her eyes she couldn't even recall what it was that plagued her. Though difficult to describe and harder still to remember, the presence of the thoughts was enough to send a chill up Raven's spine.

Her inability to gain a grasp on the problem was most unsettling for someone who had always been taught to maintain control. She knew she was supposed to be as close to emotionless as possible, but this new feeling that had come to light wouldn't stand for it.

Maybe it was time to confront her mind… She scanned over the battleground that was her room; furniture and books were scattered about after her outbreaks. She spotted her magic mirror still in tact on the floor. It was a portal to her mind.

Her mind was a complicated world of her hidden emotions, all loosely tied together by thread. Perhaps self-examination was the best way to end her problems.

But part of her feared the answer.

"Ugh, I just don't know what to do, anymore. Things used to be easier."

A light tapping came on her door. "Raven, I've got to talk to you." The voice was Robin's.

Scanning the messy state her room was in, anything Robin needed to say would have to be on the opposite end of the door. She only opened the door a few inches; it was suitable to peer out of. "What?"

"When we found Control Freak we learned he had found Slade's mask outside the prison during the jailbreak."

"So you're thinking Slade has something to do with all of this?"

"Yes."

"How does Beast Boy come into play?"

"I don't know, yet."

The two simply looked at each other for a few seconds, until Raven began to slide the door shut, "Thanks for letting me know." Of course, now she just had more to worry about.

Propping the door open ajar by forcing his hand in, Robin ordered, "Raven, wait!"

Trying to cover up her fears and worries, Raven directed her attention back to her team's leader, successfully assuming an emotionless façade.

"Were you, Beast Boy, Starfire, and Cyborg all hiding me from the truth about how that chemical was triggered in my body?"

She could only assume Starfire or Cyborg had told him in the light of this new piece of evidence. "We felt we had to, Robin."

As his frustration rose, the fingers keeping the door open began to quiver.

"You'd have to agree," Raven began, "that you're not exactly stable when it comes to Slade. Don't take it too personal."

"Raven, I know I made a mistake before. And I know it's unforgivable. But since then I've tried best I could to better myself as a leader. Now I find out that the team I'm supposed to lead didn't trust me. They ALL knew valuable information, but left me out of the loop!

"_How would you feel if your team didn't trust you?_"

After a moment of silence shared between the two, Robin slipped his hand out and the door shut. After she had heard him stomp away, Raven fell to her knees.

Robin's question of trust had brought to mind a fear constantly looming within her own mind. Being the daughter of a demon would make her half evil. She often felt the others should not trust her; she did not always trust herself.

o-o-o

Since Beast Boy's disappearance, Cyborg had not played any video games. To let out frustrations from his argument he took solace in the weight room. He was benching one thousand-five hundred when Starfire entered the room.

"Cyborg?"

Not stopping his benching, Cyborg hastily replied, "Yeah?"

Wanting his full attention, Starfire hovered over to Cyborg, took the weights from his hands, and put the barbell back in its place. "I am worried for Robin."

Cyborg sat up, breathing heavily. "_Aw, don't worry about that whiny little hypocrite._ If you've gotta worry about someone, worry about Beast Boy…or Raven."

"I am worried for friends Beast Boy and Raven, as well…"

"Robin's just cranky that things aren't going his way for a change. He thinks 'cause he's the leader it gives him more of a right to hide stuff than we have."

"But we were _all_ hiding this information from him," Starfire now attempted to defend Robin's case.

"That's better than what he did! He hid that Red X thing from ALL of us! What's worse? One person in the dark to try to PROTECT him, or four of his teammates having no clue what's going on while he tries to get into the mind of a psycho?"

She thought for a moment. "I am not sure… While I must agree that learning of Robin's distrust hurt me, would it not hurt more to be singled out? We did so to protect him, and our not telling him the truth was justified. But if this is information he felt he would have needed to know that we would not tell him, I would imagine he feels…deeply hurt, as well."

Cyborg lay back down and prepared to lift the weights again, "Well, I don't care what ignorant thoughts are going through his head right now. We didn't do anything wrong, Starfire."

The Tamaranean sighed. "I don't think he's left his room of thought since your argument. He does _not_ respond when I try to speak to him outside of his door. All he told me is that he wished to be alone.

"Merely this and nothing more."


	6. This Mystery Explore

**Chapter 6 – This Mystery Explore**

Surprised that she had been allowed a bit of sleep, Raven awoke in the middle of the night, tossing and turning in her bed. She never used to have such constant sleeping troubles; finally she had had enough. Upon removing her covers she could see she had fallen asleep with her cloak on.

She scanned over her room once again. The vanity was cracked, the triangular bookshelf was bare, but the statue of the conflicting happy and sad masks remained glaring back at her. But what she was searching for was the Mirror of Azar. She picked it up from its new spot on the floor.

The small mirror was somewhat intimidating, what with its total four spikes protruding from its lower and upper right and left. Above and below the glass was a red gem, which supposedly gave the mirror its magic.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

The three words, which meant nothing to the listener on their own, used in chronology were a way of concentrating the powers Raven had been forced to live with. And when she focused her mind on the mirror now in her hands, the words opened a portal to her mind.

Her physical body was being consumed by her mentality as she was sucked into the reflective glass. As she was transferred the mirror floated, but when all was inside it dropped to the floor as a demonic cloud was expelled.

o-o-o

Raven floated down a narrow tunnel of a red and black spiral. She needed to carefully manipulate herself around jagged curves; perhaps the instability of her mental state was causing the awkward passage.

She soon exited, landing on a floating island of fractured rock with a flat top. Letting out a sigh, she looked up to see a black sky with scattered red stars. Several dimmed red suns filled the sky, each half blocked by its own moon.

Sitting on a nearby rock, a Raven dressed in a bright purple grinned as she took notice of her host.

"What are you so happy about?" asked Raven.

"Oh, well, um," the girl in bright purple began, "I guess I shouldn't say."

Approaching the emotion, Raven questioned, "What do you mean by that?"

Raven paused in mid-step when she heard a laughing come from a presence behind her. "I mean I want to say, but I'm not supposed to." Raven turned around to face a pink clad Raven, wearing an even larger grin. "I wish I could tell you! It's so sweet!"

A slouched Raven in gray appeared from the shadows, "Maybe it's for the best I don't know. I should be allowed as little privileges as possible… I'm evil, after all."

"I'm not evil!" argued the girl in purple, still sitting on the rock. "I'm to be accepted! And I am! _Finally!_"

"But I shouldn't be," the gray hooded one contradicted.

"Who cares what they think?" From another direction emerged a frustrated girl in red. "They don't matter! Stand alone! They'd never understand me!"

The one in gray somewhat agreed, "They don't want to understand me, and they shouldn't try…"

Out of nowhere came another Raven; this one wore green. "Aw, c'mon!"

"I love them and they love me," chimed the pleasant Raven sitting on the rock.

"Love?" repeated the angered Raven in distaste.

"No matter how much I might love them," the gray clad teen cried, "they don't want anything to do with me…"

"Lighten up," commanded the bubbly pink one.

The green dressed emotion backed her up, "They like me because I'm part of the team! Together we overcome every challenge! And this Beast Boy problem is gonna play out the same way!"

"I hope so," said the girl in bright purple, now not looking so happy and staring at the ground.

"Whatever happens, happens," commented a new Raven, this one dressed in orange. She was lying on her back looking up into the eerie sky. "Everything's got a purpose, right? Things'll work out. You'll see."

"I don't understand," Raven began, "Do you know what's wrong with me or not?"

"Some of the details are kinda vague," the pink one replied, still with a smile on her face.

The Raven lying on the ground closed her eyes, "I try not to think about it."

"Well, it's the only thing I _can_ think about! Why can't you just tell me what you know?" Raven's frustration was rising.

"Under my request." From behind Raven came another voice of hers. Raven swung around to see herself in yellow.

"Can you tell me what's going on?"

"If I could do that, you wouldn't need to ask, would you? I only know what you know."

"But you must have some idea what's happening to me; maybe it's too deep in my mind for me to recall," Raven reasoned.

"And there's a reason the both of us only have access to unclear ideas," the yellow clad Raven explained. Pointing to the Raven wearing the light shade of purple, she asked, "Speaking of which, what am _I_ doing here?"

"Hey! I'm not by the Forbidden Door," she argued.

Dissatisfied, the Raven in yellow stated, "But that part is to stay even further away from the door than the rest."

Standing up and stomping a foot, the Raven pouted, "That's not fair! I'm sick of always being told to go away!" She pointed towards the angry emotion, "Why don't I jump down this one's throat?"

"I'm right," the yellow-cloaked girl acknowledged, "That part ought to leave, as well."

"No! I'm fed up with needing to always hang around with this one!"

The pink one seemed to find the argument amusing, "Here we go again!"

"Shut up," the angry red-dressed Raven snapped.

As the gray depressing Raven cowered, the one in green shouted out, "Woah! Calm down!"

"EVERYONE, SHUT UP!" Raven screamed. It didn't matter if she lost control of emotion while inside her head. Even though now she was very flustered, it was a privilege she appreciated.

Raven stared her yellow clad self straight in the eye, "WHY WON'T YOU TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW?"

Not flinching, the Raven replied, "I don't think I'm ready to handle the truth. Not yet, anyway. We'll all know, soon enough."

"That's right," the Raven in purple agreed as she approached Raven and the one in yellow.

"Go away!"

"No!"

Raven couldn't ignore this argument any longer, "Why do you insist that she go away? Isn't she just as much a part of me as you?"

The Raven thought for a moment of a way to answer without telling her what she felt she should not know. "I'll say this much… You care about Beast Boy…a lot."

Raven had known, but hearing it come from her emotion somehow silenced some of her uneasiness. Shortly after, she left her mind and returned to her room in Titans' Tower.

o-o-o

"Did that help?" she questioned, as she picked her desk back up and placed the mirror on top of it. Thinking about it, she wasn't sure. She was just as confused as ever, but somehow confronting the problem eased her a bit. She felt that soon she would know exactly what the cause was. Some of her frustration had been lifted off her shoulders.

Removing her robe and draping it on the nearby, out of place, toppled chest, Raven once again pulled the covers over her head; her room felt strikingly cold.

She knew she cared for Beast Boy…but just how much was "a lot"?

Slowly her eyes began to close. It wasn't long until she reached a deep slumber.

o-o-o

Starfire couldn't ignore it any longer; she had heard something. Her piercing green eyes opened in an instant. The alien girl sat up in bed, which she had been resting in upside down. Pushing her long red hair behind her ears, the Tamaranean beauty rose from bed.

A breeze made her shiver; looking towards the window she could see she had left it open. In an attempt to relieve some stress she had flown a lap around the city before going to bed. Her pink curtains waved in the wind.

Still feeling uneasy, she removed the mirror from her desk drawer to stall her exploration of the noise; Starfire was forcing herself to review her appearance. She wore no sleepwear, but her usual clothing; sleeping in uniform was a rule the Titans had to abide by. You never knew when you'd need to be ready to move. Although not going out in public, a messy tuft of hair made Starfire fish out her comb and run through it. Now satisfied and with no more excuses, she made her way for the door.

The door slid open as the teenaged intergalactic alien stepped out into the halls of Titans Tower. Each room she passed, Starfire would take a quick look inside, using energy emitted from her hands as a lantern. Every room she checked seemed properly unoccupied.

Trying not to become too excited, Starfire considered that Beast Boy had returned and, because it was so late, decided to go straight to bed and inform the others of his exploits in the morning. But upon checking his bedroom thoroughly, this theory was disproved.

Perhaps Beast Boy would have gone to Cyborg, his best friend. Starfire quietly opened Cyborg's door and peered inside. No one was in the room, with the exception of Cyborg.

There was also the possibility that if Beast Boy returned he'd have gone straight to the team's leader, Robin, especially if his disappearance had something to do with Slade. But Starfire was somewhat afraid to check Robin's room. She only hoped he was asleep.

Curiosity reaching its limit, she couldn't help but take a look. Opening the door and illuminating the dark area showed no signs of Beast Boy. Starfire had been right in assuming Robin would not be in his bedroom, but the one with walls covered with newspaper clippings. He was sitting at his table. Cautiously, Starfire approached him. She dimmed her energy glow, as the light above Robin's desk was still on.

"_Robin?_" she whispered as she came from behind.

Upon closer inspection, it appeared that Robin had fallen asleep while indulging himself with work. Starfire took it upon herself to glance over his shoulder to see what he was working on.

Though his arms and sleeping head were blocking a portion of it, there was a detailed blueprint of the southern block of the prison, with various illegible notes and arrows scribbled all over it. What she gathered from it was that Robin was trying to figure out how the mastermind found his or her way in.

Next to the blueprint were a number of lined sheets of paper with the curt title "HOW" written in all capitals and underlined on the first page. The subsequent information was suggestions on how the jailbreak was executed. Some entailed Beast Boy's abduction, some didn't; nearly all of them were based off past encounters with Slade. Starfire was able to make out some of the explanations; none of which was there substantial evidence for. Others were scribbled out, possibly considered completely ludicrous by Robin.

Robin lay resting on his right arm with his left sprawled forward; his left hand was atop the recovered Slade mask. The image didn't seem right to Starfire at all. Holding Robin's hand, she removed it from the mask. Clasping his hand tight, a few tears began to form in her eyes.

She found difficulty in being able to let go of and leave Robin. Eventually she was able to, then quickly checked in Robin's bedroom for Beast Boy. He, of course, wasn't there, which led her search to Raven's room.

It wouldn't make sense at all that Beast Boy would seek Raven immediately upon his return, so Starfire was not surprised to find no green persons in her room.

Though she was sure Raven would not welcome her, characteristically, Raven's was a room she did not particularly wish to enter unaccompanied, save a sleeping Titan. To walk through it alone in the dark would be quite frightening.

Starfire readied herself to close the door when she heard Raven stirring. She rolled to the left, shielding herself with her blanket. Starfire then noted the sound of the wind blowing. Since she was there, the Tamaranean felt an obligation to close the window for her, even if stepping in the dark room scared her.

Igniting her natural lantern, Starfire took one step and noticed something out of the ordinary. Raven, who was typically neat, had an opened book on the floor. And looking forward a few steps, Starfire noticed many more. Turning to the left wall, she could see the bookcase was completely bare.

And that wasn't all; lighting fixtures were dangling from the ceiling by a wire, pottery was smashed, her globe had been overturned, the vanity was cracked, her desk was out of place, and her chest was flipped.

But it wasn't until she reached the window adjacent Raven's bed that the girl let out a gasp. The window had been completely shattered. Hovering to avoid stepping on broken glass, Starfire turned to her teammate and muttered to herself, "_Poor Raven…_"

Star had known Raven was having problems lately, but now she was made aware of how extreme. She would have returned with a heavier blanket for Raven, but she didn't want her to know she had entered her room. She probably did not want the others to know of her room's damage.

After having spent some time examining the entire building, Starfire didn't know what to make of the noise she heard. It could have been some sort of destruction in Raven's room…or noises of the wind; she had left her window open. Chopping it up to the wind, though she knew in her heart that wasn't the truth, gave her a little less to worry about. It was a nicer thought than her close friend loosing control.

Upon reentering her room, Starfire immediately shut her window.

"'Tis the wind and nothing more!"


	7. In there Stepped a Stately Raven

**Chapter 7 – In there Stepped a Stately Raven**

Finally a new day had come and with it new opportunity. It could be used to mend the scars of days prior…or to find new problems.

Raven had found one upon waking up; she hadn't noticed when she woke up in the middle of the night, but in her sleep she had broken her window. She'd have to be without one for a while, because she couldn't let the others know.

o-o-o

Meanwhile, the other three Titans in the Tower were having an awkwardly silent breakfast. Starfire sat in-between the two raging flames, Cyborg and Robin. "So…what are we to do today?"

"I'm still working on the case," Robin replied, tonelessly.

She remembered that she had found that he'd fallen asleep while working on it the night before. He really needed to put his mind at some ease, "Please; perhaps we may rent a movie tonight?"

Quietly, Cyborg replied, "Eh, I don't know, Star."

"You guys can do whatever you want; I'll be busy today."

He refused to be put at ease, but perhaps she could still lift some of the burden, "Maybe I could assist you?"

"No, I think I'm better suited for solo work."

Cyborg couldn't stand for his smart aleck response, "Man, get over it!"

Not lifting his eyes from his bowl of cereal, Robin said, "Starfire, tell Cyborg he can rent any stupid sport movie he wants."

"_Oh, so now you're not talking to me?_"

Robin just sat there, fishing through his cereal with a spoon.

Standing up from his seat, Cyborg yelled, "_REAL_ MATURE, ROBIN!"

Robin muttered something.

"WHAT?"

"I SAID, 'THROWING A FIT IS SUPPOSED TO BE _MATURE?_'"

"_LOOK WHO'S TALKIN!_"

Just as Robin stood up, Starfire came between the two, "Please! No more fighting!"

Quickly Robin turned around, opened the door, and stomped back down the hall, leaving his breakfast behind. Just as he was leaving he passed Raven who was entering the room.

Once he was gone, Raven asked, "_Woah, what did I miss?_"

Picking up his bowl and grabbing Robin's, Cyborg simply replied, "_That kid really gets on my nerves…_"

Starfire sighed and followed Robin's path out of the room.

"I'm guessing he's still mad about the Slade thing?" asked Raven.

"You heard?" Cyborg was placing the dishes in the sink.

"He came to my room last night to let me know."

"Things are getting way too complicated…"

"Yeah, but," Raven began, "it'll all…work out…in the end, I mean."

Looking up from the sink, Cyborg stared at her confused. It seemed too positive for Raven. "That's a good way to look at it, Rae."

o-o-o

Robin had gone to his black-walled room to brood. He was facing the wall when a knock came on his door, "Robin? May I come in?"

After a three second pause, he gave in, "Yeah."

The door slid open as Starfire stepped inside. "Robin, you have to understand that we did not mean to hurt you, just as we must understand that you did not mean to hurt us when you were the Red X. Even so, keeping secrets is wrong and I am sorry."

He turned around to face her, "_No, don't be sorry, Starfire. I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry about everything. I'm sorry I'm getting so caught up in this. I…know you guys were just trying to help me. I'm sorry, Starfire._"

Some tears had accumulated in the Tamaranean's eyes, "_Robin…_"

"And could you," he turned towards the wall, again, "could you tell Cyborg I'm sorry?"

Unable to contain herself she came closer to Robin and hugged him from behind. The Boy Wonder didn't move, but lowered his head as he blushed. Starfire loosened her grip and left the room to tell Cyborg of his apology.

o-o-o

Having returned to his room, Cyborg took it upon himself to check his energy; he had felt unusually fatigue this morning. His scan surprised him; he was running fairly low. "Nothing's goin right."

That's when Starfire peeked in, "Cyborg! Cyborg!"

"Yeah, what is it, Star?"

"Robin has asked me if I would tell you he is sorry for the way he's been acting. Perhaps it would have been better if he had told you himself, but he seemed somewhat ashamed."

Cyborg smiled, "Na, any apology is fine. I'm sorry I got so frustrated with him, Starfire. I know you weren't crazy about that."

She simply grinned. Then thinking about the scene she had left, Starfire questioned, "Did you speak to Raven?"

"Uh, yeah, a little bit."

"How is she?"

"She seems…okay."

"I'm glad," she began, "Now all we need is Beast Boy returned safely and things will be back to normal."

"I hope that happens soon, Starfire."

o-o-o

And so it was that some sense of peace was finally restored to the disturbed group of remaining Titans. This sensation of serenity was somehow maintained to the night; but as midnight came and went one Titan was still wide awake.

Robin understood the motive of Cyborg, Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy for retaining their information, but he did not understand the motives of Slade. And when he really thought about it, there wasn't substantial evidence that it really was Slade. Rather than creating a feeling of comfort, this uncertainty only led to more questioning and worries.

He was once again at his table, but this time not jotting down possible ways the jailbreak was executed. Now he was simply thinking. What was the point behind all of this and, if it wasn't Slade, who could have done it?

He directed his attention, for the millionth time that hour, to the mask. He couldn't believe it to be anyone but Slade, but he'd have to if he wanted any mental stability. A good detective would consider all the possibilities.

As he eyed the wicked mask the alarm sounded throughout the Tower and a red light blinked above the object and lit the room. Letting out a heavy sigh, Robin headed towards the door.

o-o-o

Soon the four teens were gathered in front of the monitor. Cyborg had taken the helm and found out what the problem was. "Looks like someone's ravaging main street."

"Do they have any idea who it is?" Robin asked.

"Na, looks like all of the eyewitnesses are seeing something different."

"Let's go." With that, Robin led Starfire and Raven in a dash for the door.

Cyborg cried, "Wait!"

The three turned around as the Titan leader questioned, "What is it?"

"I-I hate to say this, but I've really got to recharge my power cells. When I checked earlier I found that they were dangerously low. I ran a diagnostic and I'm fine; it must have been a fluke. I know we're already one man short, but if I end up shutting down I'll just get in the way."

"That's okay, Cyborg; recharge. If we really need you we can contact you."

o-o-o

And so Robin hopped on his R-Cycle as Starfire and Raven hovered on either side of him. The three headed towards the heart of the city, main street.

When they arrived they learned just what the report meant when it said "ravaged." The street had cracks as if something huge had torn through. Buildings had gaping holes, reminiscent of the southern block of the prison, while smaller structures were falling to the ground.

"Whoa," Raven commented.

"What could have done this?" wondered Star.

"Split and search. Contact the other two when you find something."

Under Robin's command, the three split up to look for anything that might serve as a clue for this destruction.

o-o-o

A business building was rattling as a woman inside clung to her desk for some sort of balance. When the desk began to rattle with the rest of the building, she fell over and clung to a fellow employee. But they, as well as their companions in business, fell backwards when an abrupt explosion came to the wall in front of them.

As the dust cleared, glowing green eyes were revealed as the Teen Titan, Starfire, was floating outside the puncture. "Do not be afraid! I am here to help!"

The executives were apprehensive at first. Their office building was coming down; they were already quite fear stricken. One brave worker took a step forward and Starfire grabbed him. Though some others began to make a move, it wasn't fast enough, so Starfire swooped in and lifted a large group of screaming people. She carefully brought them to the ground and went in for her next group. She successfully evacuated the building before it came down.

o-o-o

"Is everyone out of the apartments?" asked the fireman, elsewhere.

Another replied, "We think so!"

"Good work!"

Just as they were congratulating themselves for saving everyone, a child's scream was heard three stories up. As it was heard, someone had swung in through the window of the same apartment.

Robin tumbled inside the crumbling building. Quickly regaining his posture, Robin headed in the direction of the cries for help. Kicking open a door, he found a young boy curled up in the fetal position. He looked up as the Boy Wonder outstretched his hand, "It's okay; I'm here, kid!"

The child's mother was crying as the firemen tried to drive the people away; the building would be coming down in a second. Just when it seemed that all hope was lost, a window opened and a grappling hook shot through attaching itself to a stable building across the street. As the apartment complex began falling, Robin jumped out holding the child with one arm and holding the tool with his other. Swinging over the road and expertly plotting his feet on the side of the other building, Robin connected the hook to his belt and covered himself and the boy with his cape to protect them from the other building's debris.

o-o-o

Meanwhile, Raven scanned the street as she stood atop a mangled, yet somewhat stable, building. She had found no sign of the criminal, when suddenly she felt a presence from behind her.

"Stop right there," she had blurted as she turned around, but upon seeing the figure she let out a gasp of genuine surprise.

Perched upon the building's smokestack, he stared directly back at her. Raven was left utterly speechless. All she could do was signal Starfire and Robin with her communicator.

"Raven, what is it?" Robin's voice came in on the communicator.

When a couple seconds went by with no response, Starfire transferred, "Raven?"

"We're on our way!"

The figure stared for a couple more seconds before leaping off the roof and into the alley. That's when Starfire flew to Raven's side and Robin flung on top by means of his grappling technology. The two found Raven simply standing with her eyes opened wide.

"Did you see something?" Starfire asked, concerned.

Assuming she had, Robin inquired, "Where'd they go?"

She pointed down the alleyway. Starfire lifted Robin and flew him in the direction.

Some distance down the alley, the two found the figure in the shadows just standing as if waiting for them. When Starfire let Robin down and the two headed towards it, however, it began to run.

It had found a dead end and began climbing over it, when Starfire shot starbolts at the wall. It crumbled with it on the wall, covering the body with a pile of bricks; but somehow a large figure emerged from the heap. It assumed its previous size as it started running again.

Starfire had allowed time for her and Robin to catch up. Running along the side of a building, Robin pulled out a capsulated net and released it as he tossed it toward the figure. Leaping from the wall and stabilizing himself on the ground, he prepared to apprehend the criminal.

But just as the net was about to catch it, it transformed into a bird—a raven—and swooped out of its way; it proceeded to fly up to a building's fire escape, shift back into a human figure, and look down upon the staggered couple.

What they saw was a green-skinned teenager in tight black apparel; the legs and sleeves of the uniform ended at elbow and knee protection. On his chest was a circular plate embroidering Slade's iconic S. Clinching his black-gloved fists and standing in his black boots, he looked down upon the two with an expression of malevolence.

Before the stunned Robin and Starfire could make a move, Beast Boy had already taken the shape of a raven and flew off into the night.

o-o-o

After the shock, Raven had not moved an inch from where she stood. As her legs began to fail, she lowered herself to the floor, sitting while wearing the same expression.

Perched, and sat, and nothing more.


	8. My Sad Fancy

**Chapter 8 – My Sad Fancy**

"SAY WHAT?" Upon returning to Titans Tower, Robin and Starfire had told Cyborg of what happened while Raven simply observed, playing the image over and over in her head. "You're joking, right? Tell me you're joking!"

"To say that we would be lying," Starfire explained.

Robin stated, "I'd never joke about something like this."

After Starfire and Robin's confirmation, Cyborg had no one to turn to except Raven. "Raven?"

"I don't joke."

"Maybe you guys saw wrong! Maybe it was some guy with green make-up meant to look like Beast Boy!" Cyborg suggested.

"He was no more than ten feet away from me," Raven began, "He was Beast Boy. Our Beast Boy. And he wore Slade's S."

"What if the Slade uniform is someone else's cover-up," Cyborg rationalized.

Scowling, Robin replied, "Don't you think you're pushing it, Cyborg?"

"Hey, the dude fell into a pit of lava! People don't just walk that off!"

"In any case, Slade or someone just as psychotic as Slade has Beast Boy doing their bidding," said Robin.

"Oh, why is all of this happening?" cried Starfire.

"I don't know." Robin turned around and retreated the room.

"Robin, wait," Starfire went after him.

After the two left, Cyborg let out a growl. "I shoulda been there! Man, I hate this body!"

Though shaken from the evening's events, Raven recalled when Cyborg had explained some of his troubles and felt it appropriate to comfort him, "If it weren't for your cybernetic body, you wouldn't be in the Teen Titans and would never have met Beast Boy. We have to save him, and you'll be recharged for when we do."

He glanced at her, "Yeah… Goodnight, Raven."

Cyborg initiated the lock system and left for his room.

With the lights off, Raven began to hunch over. In barely above a whisper she wondered, "_But…is there anything we can do?_" Her eyes began to swell with tears as she imagined once again the image of a wicked Beast Boy. No longer was he the joke-cracking cheerful annoyance she had grown so attached to; Beast Boy now appeared to be with Slade as a serious hate-filled fiend.

Suddenly, in that instant she recalled every meeting she had with Beast Boy. Even if at the time she was irate or saddened, the memory was romanticized as a pleasant recollection of a time when Beast Boy would be no further than a floor below.

Now they had no idea what happened to him, what he had done, and where he was. If Slade was behind this, his plans were always far more elaborate. What else did he have in store for the Titans? What else did he plan to do with Beast Boy?

A stack of dishes fell over in the sink.

o-o-o

Meanwhile, Starfire was following Robin as he walked down the hall, "Are you going to bed?"

"Yes," he replied.

She saw through his lie. "No you are not; you are going to think of Slade."

Robin sighed as he stopped in front of his door, "Yeah, I…I probably will."

"Please," Starfire began, "allow me to brood with you."

"I'm sorry, Starfire. Let me take care of it."

"Robin, we are a team," she reminded him, sternly.

There was an awkward silence between them, until Robin fished his hand inside his mask to rub his eyes. Facing Starfire, his voice was shaking as he said, "_I know. And I'm the leader. What a good job I've been doing, huh? I became a criminal. I was forced into a villain's apprenticeship. I allowed a member in who ended up betraying us. And now it looks like I lost another teammate. All because I couldn't stop him…_"

Upon taking a wavering breath, Starfire could tell that Robin was on the verge of tears, if he had not started crying already.

"_Oh, Robin…_" Knowing that he was crying made her eyes swell, too. Not being able to help herself, she put her arms around him. "_You are a great leader. Not everything that goes wrong is your fault, and even the greatest of leaders make mistakes. Golfand'r IV, Uzapiak III—no one is flawless._"

Her concern and comforting words turned Robin's face scarlet, but when he lifted his arms it was not to return the embrace. Gently grabbing her shoulders, he eased her off of him. Head lowered and still angry at himself, he said, "_I'm sorry, Starfire. Goodnight._"

"_G-Goodnight, Robin…_"

o-o-o

Upon entering his brooding room, Robin pulled a chair up to his desk and reviewed what lay before him. None of his work had gotten him anywhere, and frustration rose as he began to pull his hair. When he was assaulted by a sudden seething headache, he slammed his head down on his blueprints. But his weariness would get the better of him, because through the pain he soon fell asleep.

o-o-o

It felt as if only an hour or two had passed when he woke up. He groggily began to open his eyes when a voice rang, "Wake up, Little Robin."

Robin shot up out of his seat and turned in the direction of the voice. Staring back at him was Slade. "_S-Slade? How did-?_"

"Don't look so surprised. You knew I'd come back for you, Robin. You knew I never left."

Robin pulled out his communicator to alert the others when Slade protested, "Don't even bother. Beast Boy's already taken care of everything."

"_What do you mean by that?_"

"They're dead, Robin. Cyborg is dead. Raven is dead. Starfire…well…"

The door slid open, and a green grizzly forced his way in with a mangled Starfire in his mouth by her shirt's neckline.

"STARFIRE!" Robin dashed for her, kicking Beast Boy back into the hall as he pried her from his grasp. Her body was covered with scratches and blood.

"Yes, Starfire is dead, as well," stated Slade.

Reviewing the bloodstained body in his arms, even in death Starfire was beautiful. He held her body close to his own as her blood stained his costume and tears filled his eyes.

"There, there, Little Robin. It will all be over soon enough."

Robin lost his grasp on Starfire's corpse when Slade grabbed his cape and swung him around the room. Upon landing, Slade lifted him by the neck, pressing him against the wall covered with newspaper clippings. As soon as Robin had been lifted to his feet, Slade began beating him.

With his limbs feeling numb, there was nothing Robin could do to stop Slade's pummeling. A strong blow to his stomach made him cough up a mouthful of blood. Having had his fun with Robin, Slade tossed him down upon the floor.

"Apprentice!" he called, and with it a green lion came in the room.

After letting out a roar, the shape-shifter turned into a gorilla that smashed the wall down revealing the oceanic view.

Picking Robin up as he stepped towards it, Slade stated, "In these, your last moments of life, think just what could have been. No, not of what would have happened had you accepted being my apprentice. Think of how you failed to stop me upon turning it down. Think about how you could never stop me.

"Your parents would be ashamed of you, wouldn't they? I'm sure your old guardian is. You failed your team, Robin. You failed Cyborg. You failed Raven. You failed Starfire. You failed Beast Boy, and even Terra. I am evil's embodiment, Robin. You failed everyone."

That having been said, Slade tossed Robin from the Tower to fall to his death.

When he landed, he woke up to find he had fallen out of his chair.

Slade had never been there; it was all a dream.

Still on the floor, Robin slammed his fist upon it. "I _will_ bring you down."

o-o-o

Raven remained in her bed, tossing and turning, worrying about the situation at hand. Just after she had faced her own problem, a new light came to her team's. She could hardly recall the last time she had had a good night sleep. Would she ever have one again?

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."


	9. Discourse

**Chapter 9 – Discourse**

Shortly following the jailbreak, the prison had upgraded its security system with top notch electrical equipment. But the weakened scanners of Overload were able to locate this gear. Gradually, he began feeding off of it, until he was able to personify himself as a sparking limbed body of unconcealed electricity. With the new security system partially drained, Overload was able to escape his cell and his prison block.

o-o-o

Forced to put their own problems at pause, the four Teen Titans were called on the scene that evening. They followed the overwhelming electrical signal to, not surprisingly, an electronics store. Upon their arrival, they were greeted by a swarm of people running out the doors. Inside they could see nothing but pure electrical light, as appliances were annihilated after having been raped of their power.

"Titans, G—!" But before Robin could finish his catch phrase, the doors burst open and an incarnation of Overload escaped the building, ready to destroy the Titans. Cyborg had dodged the wave of electricity, and Starfire flew out of the way. Robin had been zapped, but ignored the pain as he flipped backwards and landed on his feet.

Raven had vanished as soon as Overload emerged from the building, teeming with energy. Reappearing from behind the arguable life-form, she prepared to attack. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," she uttered to herself, as an aura of blackness began to eject from her hands.

Unfortunately, Overload had noticed and shot a large amount of electricity her way. Zapping her before her attack could reach the villain, Raven's concentration was lost in her pain. The powerful blow consumed her body and disrupted her thought; the teenager wearily fell against the building's wall.

Before Overload could attack the fallen Titan further, he was shot by Cyborg's blaster. He now directed his attention towards Cyborg and Robin, who were staring Overload down.

"We need to bring him to water," Robin explained in a whisper, knowing it was Overload's weakness. "Come on!"

By means of taunting beams and explosive gadgets, Robin and Cyborg led Overload down the street and closer to the ocean.

Meanwhile, Starfire took it upon herself to stay behind to help Raven.

"Raven, are you all right?"

Forcing herself to stand, still with an arm against the wall, Raven merely asked, "Why didn't you go with them?"

"I wished to make sure you were safe."

"We're already one short, Starfire; you'd be better off keeping those two safe."

"But I am worried about you… And this seemed a good opportunity to talk."

"_Talk?_" questioned Raven, "_About what? You do know there's a monster ravaging the city, right?_"

"I know you've not been well, Raven."

She scowled, "_I'm fine._"

"I am not so sure…"

"Well, none of us have been _fine_, recently."

"But you have not been fine for some time…"

Raven sighed, "Starfire, any problems I have are mine. I'll deal with them. Come on; let's go help the b—"

"I saw your room."

Suddenly Raven felt betrayed; violated. In shock she interrogated, "_You went in my room?_"

"I—I am sorry!"

"_NO ONE is allowed in my room!_"

"_I am sorry! It was late at night and I had heard a sound! My search led me to your room, where from glancing inside I noticed the window was open! I only wanted to help you by closing the window!_"

Raven tried to calm herself, "Regardless… Starfire, never go in my room;_ EVER_."

"I—I understand… Forgive me."

Raven turned away, "Let's go."

Starfire recognized Raven was avoiding the subject. She was sure that Raven feared the destruction that had occurred in her room. "Raven, what is wrong?"

Raven faced Starfire again, snapping, "NOTHING is wrong, Starfire; OKAY?" The wall cracked.

"I feel…something is." A few tears were forming in the Tamaranean's eyes, but Raven paid no mind.

"There's nothing to talk about; let's go!"

"_Raven, what happened to your room?_"

"_I _HAPPENED TO MY ROOM!" Other places on the wall cracked while sidewalk shards abruptly shot from the ground. "I HAD NO CONTROL OVER IT! EVEN IN MY SLEEP, I WAS DESTROYING MY ROOM! I HAVEN'T THE PAST FEW NIGHTS; LET'S NEVER SPEAK OF IT, AGAIN!"

"_But why were you doing such things? What was frustrating you?_"

"I DON'T KNOW!"

"_Then how can you be sure the problem's gone away?_"

With a pounding headache, Raven fell to her knees. She whimpered, "_Please, Starfire… Let's just not talk about it…_"

"_I only want to help, Raven_," Starfire said as she got down on one knee. Raven lifted her head and looked into her friend's eyes. They were filled with tears of concern.

Raven's eyes swelled, also.

She lowered her head, again, to hide the tears rolling down her face, but her sniffles and tone of voice made it obvious that she was crying. "_I don't know what's wrong with me, Starfire… And I don't know why I've been more stable the past few days; it scares me… I don't know; I don't know…_" The sidewalk shards broke into microscopic pieces.

"_It will be okay, Raven…_" Starfire put her arms around her friend.

Slowly, Raven lifted her shaky left arm to share in the embrace. Tears rushed from her eyes.

"_We all love you, Raven. Never forget that. We all love you._"

Raven slowly removed her arm and got herself out from Starfire's hug. She awkwardly rose to her feet. "You go help the boys. I…need a moment alone…"

"_O—Okay…_"

"Starfire?"

"Yes?"

"_Don't tell anyone…_"

"_Of course…_"

"_…Starfire?_"

"_…Yes?_"

"_…Th—Thank you…_"

"_You do not need to thank me; I love you, Raven…_"

Having a difficult time repeating the words herself, Raven simply stared in response.

o-o-o

Meanwhile, Robin and Cyborg had led Overload straight to the city limits; they were on a bare road just next to the ocean. Now with his sights set on Robin, the Boy Wonder leapt from streetlight to streetlight avoiding bolts. But when he jumped atop a truck, he had no where left leap to avoid the attacks. As the truck exploded after being zapped, Robin leapt through the air and shot a grappling device onto another streetlight. His haste lessened his agility, as he swung around the light in an uncontrolled manner.

Just as Overload was about to strike, again, Starfire swooped in to grab Robin and fly him out of harm's way.

"Thanks, Starfire" Robin said, appreciatively, still in Starfire's arms. "Where's Raven?"

"Oh, she…she needed to be alone for a moment."

Cyborg charged towards Overload, blasting away. Each blow was pushing him off the road and closer towards the ocean. Starfire and Robin landed, watching Cyborg's abilities with respect. Overload had gotten extremely powerful considering all of the energy he had drained from other sources.

Overload's power wasn't enough, as he fell backwards into the water. A barrage of electric shots began, as Cyborg ran for cover. Robin hid himself and Starfire behind his cape. What followed was an enormous explosion.

Flying through the air and dropping behind Robin and Starfire was the powerless circuit board that essentially was Overload.

"_Aw, man_," they heard Cyborg comment, disheartened. The two directed their attention to a masculine figure in the smoke. "_I think y'all better have a look at this…_"

"What is it?" asked Robin, tossing his cape back behind him.

The smoke cleared, and what they saw was Cyborg trying to end the flames on a charred corpse.

Burned beyond the point of recognition, they could give this body no name, but everything needs some sort of label. Generally speaking, it's never a shock when a mortal dies; does the world stop its orbit around the sun because of someone's death? Each person is seemingly insignificant, and yet we are all allowed a name, a label. Why, even this person could still be granted one, even if simply in correlation to its current state. They would rise nevermore. They would live nevermore. And so the three stared in awe at the body…

…With such a name as "Nevermore."


	10. As My Hopes have Flown Before

**Chapter 10 – As My Hopes have Flown Before**

Raven couldn't take this uncertainty. It was true that her mind seemed to be at some ease as of late, but this sudden change made no sense. Then again, she had never found out what the problem was in the first place. Regardless, she wanted more answers, even if it meant disrupting her seemingly calm mind.

She used teleportation to return to her room at Titans Tower. Her cape swayed as she walked across the dilapidated bedroom to the Mirror of Azar, which remained where she last placed it atop the desk.

Her eyes appeared tired and sorrowful in her reflection. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

She was returning to her mind. After her physical body was consumed by the magic mirror, it fell to the floor and a dark cloud filled the surrounding air. Upon landing, a small crack had appeared on it.

o-o-o

The red and black spiraled tunnel would seem wide at one point but soon contract to a width Raven could hardly fit through.

The black sky was full of scattered red stars. The red suns were nearly full but partially covered by their moons. The flat topped floating rock Raven found herself on had one bare tree.

Perched upon a branch was a small bodied, yet large headed, black bird with endearingly huge red eyes. The cute creature did not appear wicked, but its presence seemed both out of place and unarguably very much welcomed in such an environment. The contrast in reason seemed appropriate when compared to the rest of Raven's mind.

Questioning the bird's attendance, Raven asked, "What are you doing here?"

From close behind her, her own voiced repeated the question. "What are _you_ doing here?" Turning around, Raven found her yellow clad self. The emotion continued, "With all that's been happening, you've been able to keep things under control."

"But—"

"—that's the problem," the two finished in unison.

This Raven in yellow had the same thought process as Raven in her entirety. Therefore, this Raven agreed, "The stillness makes me uneasy. It definitely feels as if something is terribly wrong."

"Have you noticed anything strange?" Raven asked, essentially, herself.

"No; nothing. That's what makes it feel as bad as it does. There's no proof that something's happened."

"But I know something has…"

"It really is quite eerie."

The charming bird had been listening to the conversation, shooting its head left and right to watch the speaker.

Although the bird was harmless, it seemed to bother the Raven wearing the yellow cape. By raising an arm a bridge of other floating rocks formed for Raven and her emotion to walk across to finish their conversation.

So Raven and a fraction of herself walked along, side by side.

The Raven noted, "But we have more than one mystery on our hands, don't we?"

"We do," Raven agreed, "What could Slade have done to Beast Boy to make him act like that?"

"He's never been strong-minded."

"But he'd never hurt his friends."

"And he hasn't; he ran from us."

"That's right…"

"You're thinking it was manipulation?" the emotion wondered, as they continued to walk down the bridge of rock.

"What else could it be?"

The girl in yellow let out a sigh, "I…I don't know…"

They walked along in silence as they came to an arch. They both couldn't help but notice the same bird was perched atop it, staring at them with its conspicuous big eyes. Its stalking quality took away from its cuteness.

The two quickened their step as they walked below the arch to escape from the bird's gaze.

They soon reached the point where the Forbidden Door was in sight, when all of the sudden a maze of walls shot out from the ground, surrounding them. But the Ravens were not the least surprised. They knew their way around the labyrinth quite well.

Right, left, left, right, right, first left, right, second left, first right, right, left, left, left, left, right, right, right, left, right, left. It was engraved in their minds. As they walked through, they easily continued their conversation; there was no need for concentration.

"What was it that you didn't want me to know?"

The Raven was silent.

"_Well?_" the teen emphasized.

"I don't want to tell you; I wish it was possible for this knowledge to be completely lost."

"How bad can it be?"

"I feel it would detriment our judgment."

"And it…has something to do with Beast Boy?"

When the yellow clad girl stopped walking, Raven did, too. The emotion lowered her head and took a deep breath. "This is as far as I should go. If I were to get any closer to the Forbidden Door I would invoke the wrath of the guardian statues. Go; complete the maze. I bid you farewell." Having said that, the Raven vanished.

Raven made the last few turns then raised an arm to open up the false dead end. Waiting outside the maze were two tall statues; both had four eyes, each. The difference between the two was that one was happy while the other was upset.

This visit to her mind had resulted with no answers, only elaborations on the questions. Though her last visit had seemed fruitless, it had somehow brought some ease. Now Raven only felt disturbed.

She was about to go through the exit when she noticed the same handsome, yet annoying, bird that had been stalking her. In a sour tone, Raven asked, "_What?_"

Then the bird said, "_Nevermore…_"


	11. Unmerciful Disaster

**Chapter 11 – Unmerciful Disaster**

The body was charred beyond recognition, thanks to the electrical explosion caused by Overload. Whether it was because of the explosion, being pecked away by fish, or mere water pressure, the body now had empty eye-sockets, too. Less damage from the fire was done to the corpse where it had some clothing to protect it, but it was so beaten by waves that its gender could not be confirmed.

While they obviously no longer had on them an identification card, what had survived was a badge attached firmly to a belt and a piece of armor on the shoulder. Whoever this person was, they had been part of the prison's night shift those weeks ago.

And so, the next day, a meeting was held, and Robin, as the leader, was expected to relay the news to the families of that night's personnel.

He was introduced, "Speaking on behalf of the Teen Titans is leader and active member, Robin."

Not an expression changed in the room as he stepped towards the microphone, as the Boy Wonder tried best he could to keep an unwavering serious face. Starfire, Cyborg, and Raven stood behind him.

"Last night, at approximately ten o'clock, we had been called to stop a disturbance. In order to prevent further damage imposed by the cause of this said disturbance, we led the villain to the ocean where an explosion occurred as a result. Among the debris that had shot from the ocean was a body. Because of the flames from the explosion, the corpse is in no way recognizable to the person it once was. The only form of identification is a badge. We're nearly certain that this was one of the personnel the night of the jailbreak. We can only assume the others faced the same or similar fates of, in one way or another, being dumped in the ocean."

Some had looks of disbelief. Others were in shock. Many had tears forming in their eyes, while Robin tried best he could to avoid seeing the young woman in the back who had broken down and cried.

"_So you're telling me that my husband is dead_," cried another new widow, "_and that's all? You can't even find his body_?"

"It's not likely any more bodies will turn up," started Robin, "but a memorial service is planned for next week followed by the burial of the found victim. That's Satur—"

"_How did you let this happen?_"

"_You don't even know who killed them?_"

A man who had lost his wife cried out, "_What am I supposed to tell my four-year-old daughter at home?_"

Still trying to maintain control, Robin stated, "The Teen Titans won't rest until we've learned exactly what has happened."

"_FORGET THE TEEN TITANS!_"

"_We're supposed to feel safe with a couple of kids looking out for us?_"

"_I don't care what they can do; they're teenagers and they're irresponsible!_"

"_The Teen Titans failed us!_"

Lowering her head in dishonor as a few tears formed in her eyes, Starfire glanced over at the policemen standing alongside them. They did not try to defend the name of the Teen Titans. They did not attempt to calm the crowds. They did not even reprieve Robin from his post at the microphone. They simply watched him being grilled, muttering their own negative comments towards the team to themselves.

Another in the audience yelled, "_Why should our taxes go to them if they can't protect us?_"

Finally giving in to his shame, Robin dropped his head low as the barrage of remarks continued. The other Titans also felt the same disgrace; even Raven was ashamed, though she hid it well. Cyborg put a hand on Robin's shoulder and led him away from the microphone.

A policeman blocked the back exit ordering, "Get back up there and answer them!"

Now on Cyborg's shoulder came Starfire's hand, and Raven clasped the Tamaranean's other hand.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," she spoke, as a raven-shaped aura engulfed them and teleported them home.

o-o-o

There was an assortment of questions, but any few answers discovered remained cryptic. What exactly happened to Beast Boy? How had the jailbreak been executed? Would the Teen Titans ever find out?

Upon their arrival to the Tower, everyone retreated to their own respective areas and kept to themselves.

o-o-o

While the others reflected on their guilt, Raven stared at her physical reflection in the Mirror of Azar. While she felt the same remorse and shame her teammates did, she still wanted answers for her own personal problem. She wanted to know what she wouldn't let herself know. But she knew this much: going there wouldn't solve anything. It would just toss more questions on the pile. And she still did not know why that bird had hummed "Nevermore" as she left the day before.

o-o-o

Robin, too, was sick of questions. They could only assume the rest of the night shift had suffered the same fate, but what if they didn't? If he learned that even just one was alive it would be great news. For one thing, it would mean a human being could continue living. For another, the team would feel just a little less guilt. And lastly, he could interrogate the person to learn exactly what had happened.

Was it Slade? Was Slade being used as a scapegoat? How was it executed? What was the motive?

How did Beast Boy tie into it?

None of it was clear. None of it made sense.

They did not even know if all recruits had suffered the fate…

…of "Never—Nevermore".


	12. Beguiling All My Fancy into Smiling

**Chapter 12 – Beguiling All My Fancy into Smiling**

"Kinda makes you feel really weak, doesn't it?" The orange clad Raven was relaxed on her back as she stared up towards the vast black sky with scattered scarlet stars.

It was the next evening, and Raven could no longer stand it. She had forced herself to bed and had even fallen asleep briefly, but soon woke up and dashed to her magic mirror.

"Like your whole world might have some catastrophic significance and you have no control over it," the Raven rambled.

"I don't suppose you have any answers for me, do you?" Raven asked, pathetically.

"I know things."

"Like what?"

"I never said I'd tell you," she laughed.

Raven pouted, "I hate all of you…"

The girl giggled, "C'mon; you can't hate yourself."

"But I do."

"You must like something about yourself," the relaxed Raven reasoned.

Raven argued, "I have no redeeming qualities."

"Then why would the others like you?"

She thought, "Because they're stupid?"

The Raven in orange chuckled at her host's dry humor.

"Hey, don't say that," argued a green cloaked Raven who had appeared out of nowhere. "They like me because teammates like each other! That's how it works!"

Showing her dry humor once more, Raven questioned, "_So…it's pure obligation?_"

A Raven in red appeared, "Does it matter? Just let me hate myself!"

"Well, whatever I wanna do," the girl in the orange cape gave up the worthless quarrel and focused her attention back towards the cosmos of Raven's mind.

The one in green questioned the one in orange, "I'm giving up the argument that easy?"

"I don't like getting in disputes."

The depressing Raven in gray popped up, "They hate me, too."

"Now _I'm_ gonna start?" the green clad teen moaned.

The orange dressed Raven couldn't help but chortle to herself, again.

The pink hooded girl emerged from the shadows, wearing a large smile. "I heard laughing," she started, then pointed towards Raven, "so I figured the _life of the party_ was here!"

The pink clad Raven laughed at her own sarcasm, and the orange cloaked one joined in.

The angry Raven in red directed her attention to the emotion in orange and shouted, "Don't encourage me!"

"What are we talking about?" the bubbly Raven asked, beaming.

"Can you tell me anything abou—", Raven began before being interrupted by her relaxed emotion lying on the ground.

"We're talking about how we hate ourself."

"Who started me on that topic? My sunny self in gray? Or my cheery self dressed like a cherry?"

The pink clad Raven's comment about the hateful Raven made the orange and green clad Ravens laugh out loud, as well as herself.

The cherry-colored cloaked Raven protested, "_That wasn't funny! It wasn't even clever! It was just stupid!_"

Raven's patience was growing weak, "_Excuse me!_"

"Back to the topic," the green clad teenager announced.

"I'm loved," stated the Raven in bight purple who had just arrived, "Starfire said so!"

Blushing, the gray clad Raven reasoned, "She was just saying that to make me feel better…"

"If she hated me, why would she care?"

"_B-Because she's a good person…_"

"Enough." Walking down a bridge of rocks came the Raven in yellow. "She hasn't come to learn how she feels about herself. She's come to learn how she feels about someone else."

The Raven wearing the pink cape explained, "Give me some credit! _I knew that!_ I was just playing with her!"

"Are you prepared?" the yellow clad emotion asked her host.

"Please," Raven begged, "I can't handle all of these questions… I need at least _one_ answer… One _solid_ answer… One that doesn't invoke _more_ questions, but one that simply _answers_ a question… I _need_ you to tell me exactly what you've been hiding from me, or I don't know what I'll do…"

The Raven dressed in yellow lowered her head and sighed as she put her hands on Raven's shoulders. "_We…You…You, um…_"

The Raven in bright purple blushed furiously as she grinned.

The yellow clad Raven rolled her eyes and removed her hands from her host's shoulders. "I'll let that one tell you."

Raven directed her attention to the emotion who couldn't seem to contain her excitement.

"_YOU'RE IN LOVE WITH BEAST BOY!_"

The world seemed to stand still.

"_Wh—What?_"

She continued, "_I love him! I love him! I love him!_"

The pink dressed Raven chimed, "Of course I love him! BB's hilarious!"

"_He is not!_" the frustrated red clad emotion emphasized.

Pointing to the angry Raven, the pink clothed one added, "With someone like _that_ in your head all the time, you need someone as fun as Beast Boy!" She laughed.

The Raven in gray now had a crimson face. "_Sometimes it feels like…he wants to know me…_"

The bright purple and pink clad Ravens were giggling together.

"_You're all idiots_," the irate red cloaked Raven whined, "_I—I hate Beast Boy! He's nothing but an annoyance!_"

"If we were all idiots, wouldn't that make you an idiot, too?" the orange clad Raven noted.

The one in pink teased, "_C'mon! I know I love him!_"

All the fuming emotion could do was grumble and try to hide her blushing face as she put her hood up. The pink caped teen laughed some more.

The green dressed Raven reminisced, "Remember when he actually brought the herbal tea after I was acting so creepy?"

Proudly, the girl in bright purple explained, "That's because he loves me, too!"

"_He doesn't…love me_," the melancholy teen cried.

The other whined, "_Yes, he does!_"

"He just might," the yellow clad girl finally spoke up, "and those feelings just might be a way to bring him back to the Titans."

Raven was still baffled, "_B-Bu-But why—How do I love Beast Boy?_"

"Opposites attract?" guessed the orange caped girl, still staring into the sky. "Does it matter why or how? I just love him…"

"And is it really as radical as you make it out to be?" questioned the Raven in the yellow robe, "He, too, tries to hide his emotions. He tries to always be funny. But, really, that's just him covering up his insecurities. Save trying to be funny, he's a lot like you, in that way…"

"But our personalities are completely different!"

With a large smile, the pink cloaked Raven noted, "_And Starfire's your best friend_; what's your point?"

"You can deny it all you want," the yellow clad Raven explained, "but you know it's true. Now that the knowledge was dragged out from the recesses of your mind, you'll never be able to forget this fact. Answer me truthfully… Do you love Beast Boy?"

A tear rolled down Raven's face as she answered in just above a whisper, "_I…do…_"

"_She admitted it_," the bubbly one sang.

The Raven in gray couldn't help but state, "_It's terrible, though…_"

"_I _know love sounds awfully difficult to control," started the knowledgeable emotion in yellow, "but, realistically, it can't be much more difficult than happiness, sadness, anger, ambition, ease, or thoughtfulness. We can survive this… Azar taught us too well to be beaten by a silly teenaged crush."

The girl in bright purple disagreed, "Hey! This is true love!"

"_Well… Maybe it is… And if it is, that's dangerous at the same time it's…wonderful…_"

The red clad teen rolled her eyes.

"_We still have Azar's rings._"

Raven nodded, "_I made sure they were still safe in their box after I had…destroyed my room…_"

"_As long as we have those, she'll always be with us. No matter what. If Beast Boy never comes back, she'll be there for company. If Beast Boy doesn't love us, she'll be there to console you. And if somehow a relationship can form, she'll be there to celebrate…_

"_There's nothing left to say. I'll escort you to the Forbidden Door._"

So, Raven was in love. She was in love with Beast Boy.

But still…she had to wonder what that bird had…

…meant in croaking, "Nevermore."


	13. Engaged in Guessing

**Chapter 13 – Engaged in Guessing**

Robin had said that the Teen Titans would not rest until they had learned what happened that night, and he reasoned that as long as he stayed awake it wouldn't be a lie.

Robin hadn't slept at all that night after returning from the meeting. And he wouldn't let himself fall asleep tonight. The others were not aware. To keep himself awake he'd indulge in caffeine, specifically with coffee and soda. At the same time, he'd indulge himself in work. The lack of sleep seemed to cause no detriment to his thinking. He remained sharp and logical, with the exception of certain moments where he'd break down in shame and scold himself for ever letting all of this happen.

This isn't to say the others slept well. After the team was grilled, Cyborg couldn't wait to go into sleep mode, but Starfire and Raven didn't have that luxury. The two tossed and turned all night, wondering and fearing much like Robin was.

Though his conscience was plagued with guilt and his mind had remained sharp and quick, Robin had made no new discoveries. Study after study, theory after theory; it all seemed pointless.

Taking a sip after finally dismissing a wild conjecture, crumpling the paper and tossing it across the room, he realized the glass of soda he had been drinking for half an hour was flat. It was only when he took his mind away from the jailbreak, Slade, and Beast Boy that he noticed the strange taste in his mouth.

The Slade mask taken from Control Freak still lay on his desk. Its presence served no purpose; seeing Slade's mask wouldn't help him uncover anything. To tell the truth, he was sick of looking at it; he could no longer stand it looming over him as he tried to figure things out. Grabbing the mask, he stood up then turned around; it belonged in the evidence room.

o-o-o

The door opened up and Robin reached in to flip on the lights. Standing in the doorway he scanned over all of the artifacts they had kept. All of the weapons and gadgets of their enemies were set up in a sort of display, along with other things, such as one of Mad Mod's busts of himself.

Upon entering he immediately noticed something missing from the left wall. There was an empty spot, and Robin knew exactly what was supposed to be there; hanging the mask on the unoccupied hook confirmed his suspicions.

He removed the mask and carried it back out of the room. He hurried to set off the alarm to wake the others.

o-o-o

The three reported immediately, entering the meeting room to find Robin leaning against the wall waiting.

"Trouble in the city?" Cyborg questioned.

Robin replied, "No, I just needed to tell you guys something."

Starfire asked, concerned, "Robin, what is wrong?"

"Slade's mask," he began, "I was just in the evidence room. Slade's mask is missing."

"The one we got from Control Freak?" Cyborg inquired.

"No; no, the one we had. But I think they're one in the same."

Cyborg was puzzled, "Say what?"

"We wouldn't just _lose_ Slade's mask! It was taken from us! The only explanation that makes sense is that Beast Boy took it! He took it just before leaving that night; abduction or otherwise!"

"But if Beast Boy needed to steal one of Slade's masks to leave as evidence at the jailbreak—," Starfire began.

"—Slade might not have anything to do with it, after all!" Robin finished, pointing to the mask in his opposite hand.

"_Man!_" Cyborg whined, "_Even the evidence leads to more questions! I don't care what happened, anymore; I just want things back to how they were!_"

"_Join the club_," Raven muttered.

The alarm sounded again, and Robin turned around to the computer to check the problem.

"_What now?_" Cyborg grumbled, "_I thought they didn't want the Teen Titans anymore._"

"All the more reason we have to save the day," Robin explained, "We have to prove we're competent."

o-o-o

Elsewhere in the city, at the five-star Tharlton Hotel, wealthy businessmen and businesswomen, visiting the city for work, were enjoying some late-night entertainment of the Great Jericho. Jericho had earned himself a reputation with his skill of performing magic tricks.

The crowd was entertained; the curtains closed as Jericho prepared his finale, when he suddenly vanished and found himself locked in the box used for one of his acts.

When the curtains opened, the audience was surprised to find a man in blue make-up wearing a black suit, top hat, and red cape standing in the center. "Ladies and gentlemen, I regret to inform you that the Not-so-Great Jericho will not be seen tonight; instead you'll be graced by the Amazing Mumbo!"

He wasted no time before starting his act, pointing his wand at every man and woman in the first row. "Abra-kadabra!" Necklaces, bracelets, watches, wallets, and purses all vanished. Grinning with pride, Mumbo pulled all of the stolen items from his hat to show the people. While the victims were outraged, everyone else was greatly amused and a roaring applause began. The Amazing Mumbo took a bow, appreciating every bit of praise, "Thank you, thank you! You're a wonderful audience! And on that note, I'll make my leave!"

The duel doors flung open, with Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, and Raven standing on the threshold. "Hold it, Mumbo. You're forgetting the finale."

Suddenly a murmur of conversation sparked among the crowd regarding the rumors they had heard as of late about the Teen Titans.

With Robin in the lead, the team headed towards the stage, when Mumbo stated, "Hold your applause, Titans" as he pointed at their feet with his wand. Robin and Cyborg tripped over their own feet, while Starfire and Raven stopped where they were looking at their comrades somewhat confused.

"Amusing, but here's the real showstopper!" With the wave of his wand and reciting the words, "Mumbo-Jumbo" a cloud of red smoke covered the stage. When the smoke cleared, it was revealed that Mumbo had made a caged tiger appear out of thin air…

…What he hadn't counted on was that the tiger would be green.

"What the—?" Although the audience was pleased, Mumbo was simply confused.

When the tiger suddenly transformed into a rhinoceros, bursting open the cage, the crowds became fearful and ran towards the exits. Mumbo took the commotion to his advantage, making his getaway in the group.

To the shocked Titans still standing their ground he shouted, "Until we meet again!"

The rhino turned into a bat, which flew towards the ceiling and out of sight.

"_W-Was that Beast Boy?_" questioned Cyborg in doubt.

The Titans climbed on the stage; after Robin glanced upward to see if he could spot Beast Boy, he turned to his team. "We can't let Beast Boy escape us, again. We're going to have to split up. Starfire, Raven; you two check out closer to the ceiling." They nodded. "Cyborg; you and I wi—Cyborg! Behind you!"

Cyborg had barely glanced back when a jade boa constrictor, hanging from a curtain railing, wrapped itself around Cyborg's neck. He tried to pry it off, but the snake's grip was too strong. Before the others could attack, Beast Boy became a gorilla that tossed Cyborg across the room; upon landing, he was knocked unconscious. The primate pounded his chest with pride.

"Stop this!" the Tamaranean cried, catching the ape's attention. "Beast Boy, please! We do not wish to fight! Only to ta_—_" Becoming a tyrannosaurus rex, in tern crushing the stage, and roaring in Starfire's face silenced her; but it wasn't until he swung his tail at the girl that she was knocked out on the opposite end of the theater.

Due to the dinosaur's size he had felt awkward and cramped, so he reassumed the shape of a gorilla to praise himself by hammering his chest again. But Robin wasted no time in taking the offensive against the uncooperative villain, who was still officially considered a Titan. He leapt from where he stood to land a kick, but before he could a moth had taken the gorilla's place and flew towards the stage lights.

Regaining his posture after a difficult landing, Robin tossed a bird-a-rang at the lighting fixture. Beast Boy assumed the form of a vulture as he flew up to perch on a beam. There he returned to his green-skinned human form, glaring at the helpless team leader. He dared not use a grappling hook, unaware if the beams were there for decoration or support; continuing the fight there would not be a good idea if they supported the ceiling.

Robin turned to Raven, who had been watching all of this go on but hadn't moved an inch. She seemed consumed by some sort of fear; what Robin didn't know is that she had just found out she was in love with this boy.

Drawing his attention back to Beast Boy, Robin yelled, "Beast Boy, why are you doing this? What happened?"

He spoke. "What's wrong, Robin? Too big a mystery for you to figure out?"

"Are you with Slade? Beast Boy, lead us to whoever's making you do all of this! We'll stop them together!"

"So you're not sure if I'm really with Slade, huh?"

"_Why'd you need to take our mask?_"

"Maybe it was to throw you guys off! Or maybe it was only supposed to be a cover-up! Maybe it was Slade's idea! Maybe it was someone else!"

Beast Boy wasn't complying; all he was doing was elaborating how enigmatic the situation was for the Titans. Robin tossed a capsulated net towards Beast Boy, which opened about a foot away from him. But the shape-shifter had already leapt to the next beam.

"So many dangling questions; too hard for ya?"

"SHUT UP," Robin screamed as he swung a bird-a-rang towards his opponent. The direct hit knocked Beast Boy off of the beam, but while falling he turned into a pterodactyl. Turning around, he crashed into Robin and sent him towards another wall. Cyborg, Starfire, and Robin were all knocked out.

Beast Boy landed on a stable part of the stage, in human form, in front of Raven. With his expression of iniquity and resentment, he stared directly into her eyes.

She had wanted to say something. She wanted to tell him how she felt, but the words wouldn't come. She became wide-eyed and stricken with fear. It was a physical impossibility to utter any word.

After they shared a moment of silence, Beast Boy assumed the form of a raven and fled the scene. Someone inside a box backstage was pounding on the door to the box and crying for help. But Raven didn't notice, as her thoughts dwelled on Beast Boy.

She prayed for an end to this confusion and madness. And, uncharacteristically, she envisioned herself in an embrace with the once kind-spirited Beast Boy; the image brought a tear to her eye.

She didn't care what had caused all of this. She only wanted things to return to how they were, and she began to doubt this would ever happen. She struggled to remember any instance she had been touched by Beast Boy, even if it was nothing more than a tap on the shoulder…

She shall press, ah, nevermore!


	14. Wretch

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I felt this chapter about Raven's past would be important for those of you who didn't know and would be interesting for those of you who did. But note that most of the events taking place in this particular chapter did not come from my imagination, but from the character's past. This is my adaptation. But the story of Malpiece referenced is a short story I've written; if you're interested, send me an e-mail. Interestingly enough, this chapter was written in the same style as I wrote that short story.

The climax is coming and this is when I feel I will probably loose some people who previously read each chapter loyally. Prove me wrong? I hope. But thank you for reading up to this point. End of commentary.

**Chapter 14 – Wretch**

She had slipped into a deep state of meditation. It had taken hours, but her soul felt at peace. Her mind had stayed dormant for a while, until finally an image began to play in her mind.

It was an image she had seen once before, although the event took place before her birth.

A group of people, all dressed in black with a red symbol, familiar to Raven, stitched on the back, knelt before a ring of candles with a woman strapped down in the center. She wriggled a bit, but couldn't free herself. Her cries for help did no good; no one knew this satanic cult was meeting in the long abandoned warehouse.

And all Raven could do was observe the spectacle as she stood there, invisible to them.

The hum of a chant came from the group, but all fell silent when one woman, wearing a familiar cloak, stood up and recited a different chant.

"_Malus! Malus! Peior! Pessimus!_

"_Addo Satana! Nos amor te, Daibolus!_

"_Adfero! Addo nos pessimus!_

"_Satana, abstulo virgo itaque detego liber Daibolus!_"

That being said, a dark energy rose and consumed the woman in the darkness. Screams and cries were heard from within the black dome, but all in the group didn't waver from their solemn positions with their heads lowered in respect.

When the darkness vanished, the candles were out and the woman's clothes were mangled. The speaker of the spell stood up and confronted her cohorts, "We've been visited by Trigon the Terrible! His seed has been planted and our world will feel his might in the coming of his child!

"Skies will burn," she recited, "Flesh will become stone! The sun will set on our world never to rise again!"

They sang in celebration. The woman cried.

o-o-o

The scene ended, but Raven's mind continued to wander. The new image was of the woman with a knife, ready to take her life. This is when a hand reached out to her, "Hello, Arella. I come to you from the dimension of Azarath. In Azarath we frown upon such self punishment, but we understand your plight. I am but a messenger of Azar; please, won't you let us help you in Azarath?"

She had accepted.

o-o-o

While in Azarath, Arella had met with Azar, the spiritual leader that had sent for her. Temple Azarath held spiritual truths, and Arella sought to understand them. "Azar, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course," replied the wise woman.

"Growing up on Earth I was never sure what to believe in… I was raised Christian, but…there were times I had doubts in my religion. Should I have followed Judaism? Hinduism? Buddhism?"

"Well, no earthly religion is right," she began, "but, then again, no earthly religion is wrong."

There was a pause, as Arella considered this. "I-I'm sorry; I don't understand."

Azar smiled, "You wouldn't."

o-o-o

To describe the dimension would be impossible; Azarath was the perfect civilization. The people were pacifists. The people were pure souls, cleansed of evil. But a dark presence could be felt by all who lived there when Trigon's child was born.

"In earthly lore, birds have always been described as things of beauty; regardless of the circumstances of the girl's birth, this child is as beautiful as any other. But it is true a deep evil thrives in her heart; in earthly lore, no bird has come across as evil so much so as the raven," explained Azar.

And so the child was named Raven.

o-o-o

The magistrate argued over whether or not they should kill the child. Most were strongly against the idea, being the pacifists they were. But some feared the child's evil would destroy the dimension of Azarath.

Without the permission of the other members of the council, Juris snuck into the building the girl was being kept one night. He was determined to destroy the child to protect Azarath from her wicked heart.

The next morning, Raven was found still asleep in her crib beside the corpse of Juris, still holding a dagger.

Any who supported killing the child were silenced out of fear. Never had such an event occurred in Azarath. Never had someone committed murder; when they reflected on the situation afterwards, those who had supported the death of the child were terribly ashamed of themselves.

o-o-o

Azar told the magistrate that she would raise the child; all could only hope that through Azar's guidance, the child's dark prophecy could be changed and her soul could be helped. She taught the child; she taught not only pacifism and basic education, but how to meditate and how to conceal her emotions. To show emotion was far too dangerous for Raven to do.

She was given a magic mirror to visit her mind for meditative purposes. She was granted a copy of the Book of Azar, Azarath's equivalent to the Bible. Wearing a costume similar to the one she wore today, only in an accordingly more youthful size, she repeated the words Azar taught her, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." Azarath represented goodness. Metrion was neutral. Zinthos was evil. There needed to be balance.

o-o-o

One day after Raven had read a story by instruction of Azar, Azar asked the girl for her opinion, "How did you interpret it?"

"…It was…sad."

"Why did you think that?"

"Malpiece was killed by the demons."

"Malpiece provoked the demons."

"But the little demon—"

"Malpiece sought revenge on the demons. Evil as they are, he should not have let his emotions cloud his judgment."

The young Raven thought, "But…were those demons really _evil_? They had loved their child, and they showed…_some_ mercy…"

The room was still, until Azar embraced the child. Raven didn't know why…

Azar sighed. "Demons are evil," she began, "but _you_, Raven, are _not_ a demon…"

Raven knew she was not a demon; why had Azar said such a strange thing?

But looking on, the teenaged Raven in her state of meditation knew.

o-o-o

Though the poor girl was forced to balance all of her emotions to be as impassive as possible, her powers were being used for good, as well. Azar had taught Raven to control her powers to teleport, move objects, and heal wounds.

o-o-o

The next scene Raven saw was an event from when she was around ten years old.

"I am dying, Raven."

"What?"

"I don't have much time left in this dimension."

She started to become frustrated, "No! Don't say that!"

"You know it's true. I can tell you've known for a while."

"You can't die! I don't want you to leave me!"

"Shh! Control yourself, Raven!"

Raven sat down and closed her eyes, trying best she could to control herself.

"Nothing ever dies, Raven," Azar began, "They simply enter another plane of existence."

Raven was silent as Azar removed the rings from her fingers and presented them to the young girl. "I would like you to have these," she explained, "As long as you keep these rings, my essence will always be with you."

o-o-o

Sure enough, a week later, Azar passed away. And, having been a good student, Raven didn't shed a tear as she watched the woman's body ceremonially burned to ashes. Satisfied with Azar's impact on the girl, Raven was put in Arella's care.

Raven was assigned a number of teachers. The time between her hours of meditation was spent studying. There was an ulterior motive to educating her; if they kept her mind busy, she wouldn't have time to realize the darkness of her powers, which, thus far, she hadn't questioned.

But they couldn't stop her from having nightmares.

o-o-o

The scene of the satanic cult and a woman who she recognized as her guardian, Arella, was the first nightmare in the series. Raven had wondered who her mother and father had been, but was never told. This dream, prophesizing the child of a mortal and demon, fueled the question. And she couldn't help but wonder what troubles the…child would deal with.

She asked Arella, "Do you know who my mother is?"

Arella chuckled at the question.

"Why are you laughing?"

Then Arella realized Raven really didn't know. It hadn't occurred to her that Azar hadn't told her anything of her parentage.

"Are…Are you my mother?" Raven pondered.

"_…W—Why would you think that?_"

"I had a dream…"

"_It was just a dream, Raven._"

o-o-o

But it was followed by another dream, then another. The nightmares all showed a thoroughly sinful demon destroying everything in his path. Every night the images of the red demon would haunt her. And every time she thought about them she felt a strange sensation within her soul.

Her only solace was meditation. Only there was her mind at ease. But while meditating one day, she began to see an image. Focusing a bit more, she tried to make it clearer. The image was the same demon that disturbed her sleep with a flaming symbol she recognized as the same one worn by the cultists. It was the dreadful mark of Scath. She was shot out of her meditative state in a second, and her powers caused a vase to explode.

Arella burst into the room, "_What's wrong?_"

Raven was covered with glowing red marks. "_You lied to me! You lied! You are my mother!_"

"_1—_"

"_I know you are! And that demon—that awful demon—is my father! Scath! TRIGON!_"

As objects shot around the room, Arella became terrified and ran away to leave her daughter alone.

o-o-o

That night, Raven had another dream. This time, the demon spoke to her, "If you hate me, daughter, kill me in my dimension!" She woke in an instant and, ignoring the red glow all over her, proceeded to immediately conjure a portal to a dimension she wasn't sure how she knew of.

He had been waiting for her, "Hello, Raven."

"_How would you know my name?_"

"I know everything about you, daughter, for I am Trigon the Terrible! And I also know you have no clue as to how you'd possibly kill me!"

She scolded herself, because he was right.

"I don't wish to kill you. I wish for you to join me, my gem; together we can destroy all of the dimensions of the universe!"

"_I'm not interested._"

"THEN DIE," screamed tyrant, as he brought down his mighty fist to crush the preteen.

Stricken with fear, Raven's soul left her body completely in order to protect her. It manifested into a black energy, ironically shaped similar to a raven, and halted the fist of Trigon.

He brought his arm back, "You really are my daughter. You are just as was prophesized."

After that, Raven found herself back in Azarath, no longer glowing and no longer able to sense Trigon's location.

o-o-o

As she entered her later teenaged years, Raven felt Trigon's presence in Earth's dimension. The Magistrate of Azarath refused to help her destroy the demon, being the pacifists they were, but they couldn't stop Raven from abandoning Azarath, her home, to pursue her father.

Upon coming to Earth, Raven sought a team of heroes who would help her in defeating Trigon when the time came that he returned. Who she found were Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy.

o-o-o

In her state of meditation, Raven found herself observing a private conversation between Robin and Starfire.

"What is wrong, Robin? Do you not think her powers would aid our team?"

"No; no, it's not that I don't think her powers could help, but…why does she have them?"

"Is she from another planet, as I am?"

"I have no idea, Starfire; she hasn't told me anything about herself or her past. I spent half an hour just trying to get her birthday out of her to put on record and it ended with her asking if she could input the data personally. No matter what I say, she keeps the same blank expression and insists she would be a useful member."

"What will you do?"

"I...well," Robin sighed, "What do you think I should do?"

"I feel Raven can be trusted, and you have expressed how you wish for another member."

"Yeah," Robin replied, somewhat unsure.

o-o-o

But meanwhile, Raven waited for an answer with Cyborg and Beast Boy. The three stood in silence; Cyborg and Beast Boy found it awkward, so Beast Boy tried to break the ice.

"Hey, uh," he started, "Wanna hear a joke?"

"No."

"C'mon, it'll be funny!"

"Face it, BB; nobody thinks your funny," Cyborg laughed.

"Dude! I'm so totally hilarious! Yo, Raven!"

"Hm?"

"Knock-knock!"

Raven lifted an eyebrow.

"You're _supposed_ to say _'Who's there?'_" the green-skinned hero whined.

"Why?"

"Dude! Haven't you ever heard a Knock-Knock joke before?"

"Uh… No."

"_You're NOT serious!_"

"I…am," she was confused.

But the Raven looking on smiled at the scene.

Robin and Starfire entered, and Starfire handed Raven a Teen Titan communicator.

"Raven, you're the newest member of the Teen Titans," declared Robin.

o-o-o

What Raven saw now were scattered memories of times spent with the team. Moments fighting crime. Moments relaxing. Moments with Robin. Moments with Starfire. Moments with Cyborg. Moments with Beast Boy.

And, of course, moments with Terra, who betrayed them.

"Terra."

"Raven."

"_Traitor._"

"_Witch._"

And Terra had not been the only one Raven had met on Earth to call her powers witchcraft.

But just as a new image was coming into focus, Raven lost her concentration.

o-o-o

After all that she had just seen in her mind, only one word seemed able to come from her lips, and she had no idea why.

Quoth the Raven, "_Nevermore._"

AUTHOR'S NOTE – 04/16/05: Three nods towards "Birthmark" were added; the red stitched symbol, the words the woman recited about skies burning and such, and Raven imputing her birthday.

AUTHOR'S NOTE – 06/04/05: Several minor revisions were made to fit with "The Prophecy". Most notably, the symbol mentioned in the last revision was given its name and reappears in Raven's vision of Trigon.


	15. Prophet

**Chapter 15 – Prophet**

It was all futile. It really was. Robin was brooding over a helpless case. There was substantial evidence showing up—Beast Boy's communicator, discovering how Control Freak found the Slade mask, Beast Boy's attacks, the late prison guard—but there was no substantial theory to be supported.

It wasn't too late, yet, only about ten in the evening. Robin wondered if he'd be able to keep from falling asleep as the night progressed.

His concentration was lost when his communicator's ring tone went off. Somewhat surprised, he pulled it out and checked who was contacting him.

Somehow, someone was sending a message through Terra's communicator.

"What the—?"

Slade's voice came from the device. "You disappoint me, Robin."

Robin fell out of his chair, then fumbled to his feet, "Slade?"

"I'd have thought you'd have figured this mystery out by now."

Robin pinched himself to make sure this wasn't another dream.

"But, then again, you _are_ still a child. I guess I shouldn't expect too much from you. A child doesn't need that kind of pressure."

Robin located where the signal was coming from; Slade's old lair, the one he had used while he forced Robin into an apprenticeship.

"You've been patient, Robin, but now even I grow tried of waiting. _Do_ drop by and give me a visit, Robin. One mustn't loose contact with their old ties." The transmission ended, but Robin kept the map image on his communicator.

He darted out of the room and through the tower.

o-o-o

As Robin ran past her, Starfire asked, "Robin, where are you—?"

"I know where Slade is! Follow me!"

"B—But Robin! Wait!" He didn't look back.

Starfire was left there, not exactly sure what was going on, when Cyborg appeared after half a minute. "Yo, where's Robin goin? He was screaming something, but I couldn't make out what it was, then he shot off on the R-Cycle!"

"He—I believe he said he knows where Slade is."

"He WHAT?"

o-o-o

Meanwhile, in her room, Raven had just woken from her meditative state.

Quoth the Raven, "_Nevermore._"

Cyborg opened up the door, "Yo! Raven! C'mon! We gotta go!"

o-o-o

In his haste he hadn't noticed the disarray of the room, and Raven was quick to follow him out and to the T-Car. Starfire chose to fly alongside them.

Cyborg began tracking Robin's communicator signal on his car's navigation system, then contacted Starfire, "Starfire, I've got a lock on Robin. Transmitting information to your communicator."

"Why are we after Robin?" asked Raven.

"Honestly," Cyborg began, "I'm not so sure myself. He mumbled something to Starfire about finding Slade, apparently."

"_What?_"

Cyborg sent a message to Robin, "Cyborg to Robin! Come in, Robin!"

Robin's voice came in, "Cyborg? Where are you guys?"

"Not far behind you. So what's the deal? Why'd you go shooting off?"

"Slade! He contacted me on my communicator using Terra's; I guess Slade's mask wasn't the only thing Beast Boy took! He's transmitting from his old hideout!"

"Why would he contact you all of the sudden?"

"Don't know."

Cyborg thought for a moment… After Beast Boy went missing everything had just seemed so unreal. It seemed uncharacteristic of Slade to give them such a blatant lead…unless he had assumed Robin would show up alone. "Robin, you wait for us to get there before going in after him. All right?"

There was a pause, but finally the response came in, "Fine, but hurry up."

o-o-o

By the time Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire had arrived, Robin was waiting outside, arms folded and looking towards the ground. As Cyborg parked, Starfire flew to Robin.

"This is where you believe Slade is?" she questioned.

"He sent me a message on my communicator from inside."

"Would he use the same hideaway twice?"

Cyborg and Raven stepped out of the T-Car and approached Starfire and Robin. Cyborg suggested, "Yo, man, I was just thinking… Maybe this is just a trap."

Robin's eyes narrowed as he continued to glare at the ground. "It's the only substantial lead we have and I intend to investigate it thoroughly." He turned around with his cape flowing magnificently in the evening breeze as he headed towards the entrance. "Titans, go."

The Titans followed.

o-o-o

The team entered the dark, musty, and ravaged room, filled with large gears, cogs, and other debris. But what caught their attention immediately was Slade standing right before them. Starfire, Cyborg, and Raven all gasped to see that he was actually there; Robin's expression only became more serious and hostile as he acknowledged, "_Slade…_"

"You surprised me, Robin," Slade began, "I wasn't expecting you to bring your friends along."

"_They're my team…_"

Well aware of Robin's tendency to work alone, Slade sarcastically responded, "_Of course._"

The room was still.

"I assume you sought me in order to find answers to your questions?" Slade asked for confirmation.

No one replied.

"Well," he started, and then took a few steps to the side, "_here_ is the answer."

It was revealed that standing behind Slade was the antagonistic Beast Boy.

"True; I did have him steal a mask for me, but it was only to confuse you," Slade explained, "Beast Boy's become my new apprentice."

"B-But why?" Robin interrogated.

Slade stared at him, "You don't know?" Slade took Beast Boy's arm and twisted it behind the teen's back. He let out a scream of pain, but his obedience wouldn't allow him to fight back. In an aggressive tone that was a far cry from his typically calm manner, he shouted, "_It's because Beast Boy ruined everything! Terra was mine to control, but he had to interfere! Everything was going how I had wanted, but then he made his speech! It's only fitting that he replaces her…_"

Slade let go of the boy, letting him retract his arm and slump over rubbing the muscle as if it would cure the pain somehow. Slade reassumed his usual pitch, "I had never paid much mind to Beast Boy in the past. I only thought of him as the shape-shifter. But I soon learned that his many insecurities made him very easy to mold."

Now Starfire shouted, "What did you do to him?"

The villain ignored her, "Tell me, Titans, did you know that Beast Boy's parents were killed in a boating accident while he was still a child? This was, of course, _after_ the realization of his powers, so why was there nothing he could do to prevent their deaths? Surely one creature in the animal kingdom with the intelligence of a human being would have been able to do _something_; Beast Boy always thought the same thing, and never forgave himself.

"The feeling of having done something terrible was what made Terra so easy to mold. Beast Boy has a similar feeling, in addition to all of the insecurities he was born with. This makes the obedient Beast Boy, here, a perfect apprentice. Or…does it?

"By definition, an apprentice serves a master to learn the skill. Beast Boy would be lost without my direction; he'll never learn the art. He's served me well, but I'd hardly call him an apprentice. I would have no problem eliminating him right now." He revealed a controller with one button. "I believe you are all familiar with my nanoscopic probes? Beast Boy did not resist as I injected them into his blood stream. I know how much he means to you, so I decided he would serve as more than suitable bait to get what I really wanted."

"What do you want?" Robin snapped.

"_You_, Robin," Slade began, "It's _always_ been about _you_. You did disappoint me, however. I was certain you would learn what my motives were for abducting Beast Boy; I even had him find Terra's communicator just to serve as a final clue, too. Nevertheless, you and I are _so_ very much alike… Had Terra not gone against me, would she really have been able to follow in my footsteps? I need a spirit like _yours_, Robin. Distrusting, focused, determined. It's the reputation I've gained, and the reputation you have, as well. Only _you_ can successfully become what I am. As for the rest of you, I'm sure Robin will lead you long after I'm gone.

"Other than switching sides, you can continue your lives much as you had been." Slade put his hand on Beast Boy's shoulder. "Beast Boy doesn't have to be this way. Join me, Titans, and he will be relatively the same to how he was before I had my way with him." He lifted his hand and returned it to its position behind his back, as he stood next to Beast Boy. "Regardless of how he acts, though, I don't think you'd like me to eliminate him."

"I'll kill him myself!" Having surprised everyone with his claim, Cyborg fired a blast directly towards the unwavering Beast Boy.

"Cyborg," Robin yelled in shock, "what are you doing?"

"Just did a scan of the area while Slade enjoyed his monologue! Besides us, there's no living thing anywhere in this room! Beast Boy and Slade aren't even there!"

The image of Beast Boy was gone; all the blast had done was disrupt a pile of debris.

"Correct," Slade explained, "Since his disappearance, all of the interaction you've had with Beast Boy has been nothing more than an elaborate illusion."

"You guys think it's a hologram?" Cyborg suggested to his teammates.

"But," Starfire commented, "how would we have been attacked by a hologram that night?"

"Slade's lying," Robin stated, "Beast Boy was there that night. We need to find out where this is being recorded and track him."

"Robin, Robin, Robin," Slade began, "So distrusting. Believe me, what I tell you now is the truth."

"That means he was lying about everything he said before," Cyborg moaned.

Slade ignored him as he simply stared out into space. The team watched in silence in hopes that he would reveal something as he continued talking. He began to pace around. "_Once upon a midnight, dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,_

"_Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—_

"_While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,_

"_As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door._

"_'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, 'tapping at my chamber door—_

"_Only this and nothing more._"

Raven recognized the verse, "_The Raven?_"

"What?" Robin pondered.

"That stanza: it's from the poem _The Raven_ by Edgar Allan Poe…"

"_The Raven?_" Robin repeated. "What's _The Raven_ got to do with this?"

Slade stopped pacing and glanced at Robin as he tilted his head towards him. "Oh, the Raven has _everything_ to do with this…"

Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire all drew their attention towards Raven, who now stood wide-eyed and with some sense of fear.

"Raven, you have any idea what he's talking about?" Cyborg questioned.

But she could not answer; her mind wandered somewhere else leaving her body behind. There was only one word that came from her lips as a response, in some shape or form.

Quoth the Raven, "_Nevermore._"


	16. Thing of Evil

**Chapter 16 – Thing of Evil**

Distinctly, an image played in her head. It was her room; a tray with an empty tea cup rested on her desk. After much difficulty, the girl had finally fallen asleep, but she now woke up with glowing doubled eyes of red.

Raven tossed the covers off of herself and put her, now blood red, cloak on. She proceeded to hover out of the room.

o-o-o

Meanwhile, Beast Boy was still awake. He couldn't fall asleep; he kept thinking about Raven. "What's _with_ her all of the sudden?" That afternoon Raven had snapped at him when he was trying to help her. But as the hours added up, the time of that event became yesterday afternoon.

Without warning, the door shot open. "Huh?" He glanced down at the door from the upper bunk of his bunk bed. It was Raven's figure in the frame, with four eyes glowing red. "_W-What's up?_"

Raven rose higher above the floor as her red cape extended accordingly. Suddenly tentacles of black shot out from underneath her cloak, dancing like flames. Four went towards Beast Boy, wrapping themselves around each of his limbs. He fell to the floor, "Raven, what are you doing?"

As he came closer to her he grew more and more terrified. "_I'm sorry! Whatever I did, I'm sorry!_"

This personification of the evil within Raven's heart knew exactly what he was supposed to be sorry for. _He_ was the cause of Raven's recent mental struggles. Deep down, this evil Raven knew. And her goal for tonight was to eliminate that problem.

But as Beast Boy went under her cloak, he found different reasons to be sorry. The evil Raven examined his final thoughts; he thought about everything he had ever done wrong in his life, as well as the death of he parents that he had been unable to prevent.

Raven brought her feet back to the ground as she began to calm herself. Beast Boy was no longer physically there. He was relocated to deep within Raven's mind.

o-o-o

Barely alive, the boy couldn't move. He remained sprawled across the ground while some curious ravens with two pairs of eyes looked on cocking their heads. One flew over to him and began to peck at him. Other birds soon joined in the activity.

o-o-o

But in the physical world, Raven took Beast Boy's communicator then retreated to the evidence room, now coming up with a brilliant plan. Taking Slade's mask with her, she teleported inside the entrance of the prison. Immediately upon her arrival, the alarms sounded and a wave of officers emerged.

Raven sent a black cloud upon them, and when not one of the officers responded to the others on their radios, another swarm came out to investigate, followed by another. Before long, every person working the night shift was on the ground dying. They lost their minds, as well as some body parts as the pressure was too great and caused some to have veins and organs explode.

Taking them all with her, Raven teleported above the ocean where she dumped all of the corpses. Levitating, she returned to the prison and began pulling bricks from the wall of the first level of the southern block with her powers.

When Cinderblock came stomping out the noise woke all of the other prisoners up. In separate places, Raven placed the Slade mask and Beast Boy's communicator. She teleported back to Titans Tower just before the celebrating freed prisoners paraded out.

Control Freak, who had just been put back in prison that day, found Slade's mask as he pranced outside. "Awesome! It's like Dark Barku's from _Intergalactic Glory_!" He picked it up and put it over his face, "I _am_ your father…" He laughed as he ran away with it.

o-o-o

Raven returned to her room and put herself back in bed. When she woke up the next morning, she heard Starfire out in the hall looking for Beast Boy and recalled nothing of what her evil had done.

"Why would Beast Boy be in _my_ room?" she inquired.

Starfire blushed as she explained herself for peeking in Raven's room, "Yes, well, when he could not be located anywhere else I did not know where else to look!"

"What? What happened to him?"

o-o-o

Later that day as the Titans searched the city for Beast Boy, Raven couldn't sense his presence at any of the places she meditated to try and locate him. While meditating, Raven's evil prepared an illusion for Raven; when she broke out of the state, she noticed someone run inside the warehouse behind her. But when she went to investigate, no one was there.

o-o-o

Some days had passed, and late into the night Raven had tried to meditate. When she had finally reached a deep state, it was with the aid of her evil seeking control over her while her mind was somewhat vulnerable.

She plotted something for tomorrow; the Titans were falling apart at this point. She quietly snuck into Cyborg's room and drained a good portion of his power cell. Afterwards, she retrieved Terra's communicator and took it with her when she teleported.

o-o-o

She reappeared at Slade's old hideout, dropping off the communicator and…taking Beast Boy's corpse out of her mind and back into the physical world.

o-o-o

When she reappeared in her room, having done her deed for the night, Raven crawled in bed and the evil went back into the recesses of her mind. As balance began to restore and evil gave up control, Raven's window shattered.

Drowsily, Raven opened her eyes, thinking she had gone to sleep. She proceeded to visit her mind, but the good-natured emotions she'd consult with knew nothing of what had just happened.

Somehow, Raven felt at some sort of ease after that. Unbeknownst to her, there may have been a correlation between those days of complete unrest and Beast Boy's corpse still lingering in her mind. Regardless, Raven had fallen asleep that night. But her evil was awakened and headed towards the heart of the city.

o-o-o

Hiding in the shadows, she unleashed the illusion of her own take on Beast Boy. This Beast Boy was evil and, for the sake of the story she was constructing as a cover, wore Slade's insignia. None of the eyewitnesses had gotten a good look at the image or had seen the same thing. Something big, something small, it ran on hind legs, it ran on all fours… But after substantial damage had been done, the illusion disappeared and she came back to her room. She had dozed off, only to be woken a minute later.

"Looks like someone's ravaging main street," Cyborg explained.

Robin questioned, "Do they have any idea who it is?"

"Na, looks like all of the eyewitnesses are seeing something different."

"Let's go." Robin led Starfire and Raven towards the door.

Cyborg called, "Wait!"

Robin asked him, "What is it?"

"I-I hate to say this, but I've really got to recharge my power cells. When I checked earlier I found that they were dangerously low. I ran a diagnostic and I'm fine; it must have been a fluke. I know we're already one man short, but if I end up shutting down I'll just get in the way."

o-o-o

When the Titans went to investigate, Cyborg wasn't there to disprove the presence of Beast Boy when he appeared before Raven, Starfire, and Robin. But they had all seen it only because it came directly from Raven's powerful mind.

But this had not been the only time the image of Beast Boy was conjured.

o-o-o

"Amusing, but here's the real showstopper!"

But as Mumbo waved his wand and recited, "Mumbo-Jumbo" Raven's evil tapped suddenly into the magician's mind. She knew that he was going to make a caged tiger appear out of thin air. She tampered with his magic last second, and performed her own trick. Nothing but a cage was there when the smoke cleared, but Mumbo, the Titans, and the audience all saw a green tiger.

"What the—?"

The crowd was terrified when the tiger transformed into a rhinoceros, and soon the Titans were left alone, though they saw the rhino turn into a bat and fly away.

"We can't let Beast Boy escape us, again. We're going to have to split up. Starfire, Raven; you two check out closer to the ceiling." They nodded. "Cyborg; you and I wi—Cyborg! Behind you!"

It was imperative that Cyborg be taken down first and by surprise, lest he would scan Beast Boy. Beast Boy was essentially nothing but energy, like Raven's attacks, and would show up as nonexistent. But it didn't stop Raven's evil from beating the team down.

o-o-o

When Raven's mind wandered to images from the past her evil wandered away from her as she gained peace. Her evil had nothing but mischief in mind, as it activated Terra's communicator.

Slade's voice sent the message. "You disappoint me, Robin."

Robin responded, "Slade?"

"I'd have thought you'd have figured this mystery out by now."

But the evil returned to her, disrupting the thoughts.

o-o-o

…Raven found herself in a plain of white, with no darkness but her circular shadow and another shadow before her with no host. It darted away. She chased it. It stopped when it reached someone's feet. Her eyes met with his. Raven and Beast Boy looked into each other's eyes.

But the shadow moved again, and took Beast Boy with it. All she could see was a dot on the horizon, darkness spread across the world. Her shadow expanded and became a hole. Raven was falling in.

All she could see was black, but she heard a voice very clearly… It was Beast Boy's…

"_Please, stop!_

"_Raven!_

"_I'm sorry!_

"_I'M SORRY!_

"_LET ME OUT!_

"_I'M SO SORRY!_

"_JUST KILL ME!_"

o-o-o

Raven found herself back in Slade's abandoned hideout with Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg all staring at her.

"Go on, Raven," Slade prodded, "Show your friends where Beast Boy is."

Fumbling as she walked, Raven came to a pile of debris and pushed a cog aside. Despite her prayers, what she saw was just what she had expected to see. The others only stared in fear.

Beast Boy's dead corpse was sprawled on the floor, with tears in his uniform and dried blood from everywhere the raven's had pecked. His mouth was open, which revealed his ripped tongue. They also noted that his eyes had been pecked out. But perhaps the most disturbing feature was that he skin only had a tint of green, while a green puddle had formed beneath him.

Raven backed away from the body, only able to mutter, "_Nevermore_" repeatedly.

"_Nevermore, nevermore, nevermore, NEVERMORE!_"

She disappeared in a black mist. Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg directed their attention back to Slade. The black half of his mask now had a layered pair of red eyes.

"Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore.'"


	17. Our Sign in Parting

**Chapter 17 – Our Sign in Parting**

A large gear seemed to roll itself behind the Titans, blocking the exit. Of course, it was really prodded by Raven's evil.

After recognizing it, the three looked towards Slade. In his place was a pitch-black silhouette of him. Taking the form of a raven, the blackness flew towards them and soon had covered them in a cloud of evil.

The light Starfire began to emit from her hands did no good; it was far too dark. Besides, she couldn't maintain the light for long, as a throbbing headache had started and knocked her out.

o-o-o

When she opened her eyes, she found herself in Titans Tower. The room was silent and dark, only illuminated by the clear night sky shown through the windows. She sat up to notice Robin leaning against the wall and Cyborg standing alongside him.

"What happened?" she asked.

After a few seconds of silence, Cyborg blurted, "We…We lost Raven."

Tears instantly began to form in Starfire's eyes as she gasped, "_No!_"

"Sorry, Star."

"_It was your fault_," muttered Robin.

Starfire didn't understand, "_Wh—What?_"

"You couldn't handle Raven's attack; you were knocked out and left me and Cyborg to try and save her ourselves!"

"_I—I am—_"

"Yo, Robin, leave her alone."

"No! She's not a child, Cyborg! We already agreed on this, so don't change your mind now!" Robin walked towards the monitor.

Starfire was confused.

Robin sighed as he pressed a key to bring a video image on the large screen. "Nice to see you again,_ baby-sister_!"

"_BLACKFIRE?_"

Robin explained, "You can't stay here any longer, Starfire. But your sister contacted us and seemed interested in taking you away."

"The Citadel has agreed to help me regain my birthright as the Grand Ruler of Tamaran so long as _I_ can return to them their favorite little slave."

"_NO_," Starfire cried, "_Robin! You will not let this happen, will you?_"

Robin looked away. "_Pack whatever you need to and get out._"

But Starfire was still on the floor in the blackness. She was conscious; her eyes were open. But as Raven's evil influenced her mind, she saw this scene being played out. Tears flowed steadily from her eyes.

o-o-o

Meanwhile, Cyborg's cybernetics were protecting him from Raven's power entering his mind. But mechanisms throughout his body were moving uncontrolled, making it exceedingly difficult to keep balance. He felt his whole being become heavier, and the artificial portion of his skull cracked under the pressure of the dark.

He was dying. He knew it. There was no way he'd survive. But as Raven's attack killed him, he couldn't help but feel sorry for her. And he couldn't help but think how terrible she'd feel about killing both Beast Boy and himself. "_It's okay, Raven_," he whispered, "_I'm sorry I couldn't help you…_"

He screamed as the cybernetic dome on his head collapsed upon itself, just as the rest of his technology failed him and slipped out of place. Cyborg fell to the floor.

o-o-o

Robin was on the floor screaming in terror.

A high wire snapped as two acrobats fell to their death. A tied up man fell into a pool of water. A man with half his face exposed to acid cackled. A deranged clown aimed a gun. Slade appeared. He, himself, put a mask over his head, assuming the identity of Red X. He stood before Slade as his apprentice. A new villain appeared, wearing the Red X costume he had created. He was brutally beaten by his own mind as Slade haunted him.

"I'm sorry, Little Robin," Slade began, standing beside the Titan on the floor. "It looks like you've lost."

"_No…Slade_," he responded feebly. "_Not…yet!_"

"Don't fool yourself. You failed. And I'm still free."

"_You…aren't there! You're an…illusion…just in my mind!_" Robin refused to let himself be beat. "_There's no doubt…in my mind…that you're still…out there… Still free… But…you…can be sure…that you won't win!_"

"Listen to yourself; _you're practically dead._"

"_I won't give up, Slade! You…aren't here! But you're somewhere…and…the…the…Teen…the Teen Titans…THE TEEN TITANS WILL BRING YOU DOWN!_"

Robin won.

Slade vanished, and the pure reality began to sink in.

Raven's cloud had lifted, but having endured the power for so long, he was in a sensational amount of pain. His whole body ached, while the muscles in his right thigh had burst. Sounds came in muffled, as his ears were bleeding. Blood vessels in his eyes had exploded, covering the inside of his mask with blood. Images that he'd hardly see anyway were doused in a red hue. Instinctively, he had wanted to keep his eyes shut because of the pain, but had to keep them open to see as much as he could.

He could just see that there was a figure but a few feet ahead of him. Shakily, he outstretched his arms to crawl closer to it. Reaching his arm out again, he began to feel it. It was soft and smooth. From this observation and its shape, he knew it was Starfire's arm.

"_Starfire!_" He heard no response; granted he had not even heard himself say her name.

He slowly rubbed his hand down her arm until he reached her wrist. With his fingers he felt for her pulse.

It was only then that the Boy Wonder gave up.

o-o-o

But perhaps the one hurt the most by the night's events was sitting alone crying on a floating rock in a world with a black sky and red stars. The rock, and every other in the realm, was fractured down the center.

She was alone…and she wished she had stayed that way before this had to happen…

Quoth the Raven, "_Nevermore._"


	18. Lifted Nevermore

**Chapter 18 – Lifted Nevermore**

Raven stayed hunched over on the ground crying until she heard footsteps. Turning her head, she saw the Raven in bright purple looking back into her eyes. The Raven was unable to stop her flow of tears.

She turned her head the other way, to find her pink clad emotion. Being Raven's happiness, she was trying best she could to force a smile, but her lips were quivering and tears were forming in her eyes.

Raven stood up and turned around to find her other emotions had come to join her.

The one with the gray cloak avoided eye-contact with her host. Because her hood was up and she hunched herself so low, Raven could not see her face.

The Raven in red did not represent Raven's evil, but the anger in all human beings. And she was now seething with it.

The one wearing the green cape stared back into Raven's eyes, looking frustrated but at the same time helpless.

The Raven in the orange robe kept her eyes closed and tried to convince herself none of it was real, trying to paint a nicer image.

Lastly, Raven looked to the reflection of herself who wore yellow, who always seemed to have led with her reasoning and logic. Now she appeared as incapable and dumbfounded as the rest of them.

"_Why didn't you tell me?_" Raven begged her yellow clad emotion for a response.

"_We…didn't know…_"

"IT'S THAT ONE'S FAULT," the girl in red blurted out, pointing to her counterpart in bright purple.

The disturbed emotion turned to the other, tears rushing from her eyes, "_NO!_"

"YES, IT IS! OUR LOVE FOR BEAST BOY IS WHAT MADE US VULNERABLE! IT CAUSED DISORDER AND CONFUSION, AND OUR FATHER'S EVIL INFLUENCE FED OFF OF THAT!"

"_No! No! I didn't want this to happen! None of it!_"

"_BUT IT DID!_"

"_Leave that one alone, it's not that one's fault_," interjected the pink clad teen.

"WHETHER INTENDED OR NOT, THAT ONE CAUSED THIS!_ AND QUIT SMILING!_"

Her smile broke. She buried her face in her hands, no longer attempting to hold back the tears.

The Raven wearing orange muttered, "_None of this is happening…_"

"THIS_ IS _HAPPENING!"

The one dressed in gray whispered to herself, "We should never have allowed ourselves friends…"

"YOU _JUST _REALIZE THAT?"

The green clad Raven ordered, "Shut up."

"DON'T START!"

"It's not over, yet."

"_WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT? EVERYONE IS DEAD; IT'S OVER!_"

"_There's still something we need to do!_"

"_WHAT? KILL OURSELF?_"

"_NO! WE HAVE TO STOP OURSELF!_"

"_ENOUGH_," Raven screamed to silence the two. "_She's right! There is something we need to do!_"

Raven paused for a second, thinking. "Trigon's influence… It feeds off of all emotions… I was vulnerable, but the fact that my evil gained control while I was unconscious isn't any specific emotion's fault. We are all to blame.

"Love played a central role. This cannot be denied. I had fallen in love with Beast Boy, and my heart was what was struck first. And now the friends I loved are no longer here, the friends that made me happy. After joining the Teen Titans was when I first realized I was even capable of being happy… But through my evil's work our team was slowly torn apart until finally they would rise no more. And my being timid and afraid of what they would say kept me from telling them exactly how I felt. They may have been able to help me before things got worse… My fear brought my rage, which contributed to the others' worries. My calmness was disturbed, and whenever I had finally reached it I was taken advantage of by evil. But more often than not I brooded over the problems, trying to figure them out but to no prevail… _That_ destroyed me…"

The world shook.

"Evil is incomprehensibly powerful," Raven went on, "but a great deal of goodness also burns within this soul. If there wasn't, how could we grieve? We cannot let evil win this war. For Beast Boy, Starfire, Cyborg, and Robin, we can't let them have died in vain! We must take this opportunity to band together and stop Trigon's power over us, once and for all!"

Now the world shook more powerfully. The Ravens turned to see a large evil Raven looking down at them.

Raven stood straight and crossed her arms over her chest. "_TITANS, GO!_" A wave of her arms summoned the emotions to suddenly ring about her. Rising from the ground, the emotions circled around her at high speeds until a white light began to flash.

Raven's size matched that of her evil self. This Raven contained no evil in her. The purified soul wore an entirely white outfit. As she opened her eyes she revealed to the evil Raven than hers glowed white light.

After staring each other down for a moment, they sent forth attacks of rays of energy at the same time. The evil ray was a demonic red, while the pure Raven shot black. As the evil efforts heightened her eyes began to glow even more powerfully, also with a light coming from inside her mouth. The pure Raven's efforts resulted in the same way, only she had one pair of eyes and the glow was white.

When the two realized this attack wouldn't defeat the other, the two gave up in unison and leapt backwards, avoiding a large explosion of the two energies that destroyed the rock they had been standing on. The two Ravens were floating within the mind until the goodness swooped down powering energy in her hands for an attack.

She shot the blast, but the evil teleported. Good only learned where she was when she felt a pang of pain strike her from behind. She turned around after receiving the blow, sending a two-handed energy towards her opponent. The evil Raven fell backwards, destroying a narrow bridge that had been behind her.

The good Raven headed for the cloud of dust caused by the destroyed bridge, but when she got there she saw no evil. It came from behind her, mercilessly pounding down with red energy. She landed face down in a deep valley.

"Don't you understand?" the demon influence questioned as she landed beside the fallen heroine. "This was why you came to Earth in the first place! It was all predetermined! You came here to feel emotion; you never were going to in Azarath! You came here to loose control and to learn that you are evil! _Only then would you join Trigon in destroying the universe!_"

"Even if what you say has truth to it," her good began, "it is not the whole truth. Maybe my father intentionally led me to Earth… Maybe I've lost control…_ But I am NOT EVIL!_"

Her eyes glowed fiercely as she charged towards the evilness, pushing her by her shoulders as they flew through the air. Having raised high enough, she shot her down with strikes of black energy to her shoulders. The evil Raven fell down, crashing through a floating island of rock in her path. The ravens that had perched upon the bare tree that had been there were disrupted and flew elsewhere.

But the mind was completely ravaged; they had nowhere to go. As they fought, the earthquakes only became more severe; everything was crumbling to nothing but debris.

They continued their fight, shooting and dodging and destroying Raven's mind even further.

"_Fulfill the prophesy!_"

"_I WILL NOT!_"

The good had now knocked the evil face down, but as she looked backwards while picking herself back up she saw the white clad Raven with her arms outstretched above her head.

This was her chance to end it. Her emotions were in perfect harmony as she shouted, "_AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS!_" A great black energy was emitted and sent towards the evil Raven; helping its power was Raven's soul self in the shape of the bird.

In her panic, the evil unleashed all of the power she had, as well as her soul self. It also assumed the shape of a raven.

The two forces clashed with each other. The power was equal. The red and black combined into a humongous gathering of balanced energy. But rather than cancel each other out, they combined into an all powerful explosion.

Both good and evil were destroyed.

o-o-o

Outside of Raven's mind, Raven was nothing but a dying body slumped on the floor. With no emotion evident in her toneless voice, a verse of _The Raven_ came from her lips.

"_And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting_

"_On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;_

"_And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,_

"_And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;_

"_And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor_

"_Shall be lifted—nevermore!_"

* * *

"**Lifted Nevermore"**

by Kevin Kypers

* * *

**The End**

Raven opened her eyes in an instant; her heart was racing. Blurred, though somehow familiar, dark images flashed through her disorientated head. She heard dialogue from her teammates that she had never heard them say, but, within seconds, couldn't recall the quotes.

In that dazed moment she had completely forgotten what her nightmare had been about, but felt thoroughly disturbed by it.

Glancing out the glass of her window she noticed that it was dawn. The room now had a terrible air to it that she couldn't stand. She removed the covers she had been perspiring under then rose from her bed. She decided she'd get up early; she wanted to leave the ghastly room.

After putting her cloak on and pulling her hood up for some sort of comfort she walked briskly out of the room.

She could only pray that her nightmare, whatever it had been about, was in no way prophetic.

"_And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor_

"_Shall be lifted—nevermore!_"

_The Raven_; Edgar Allan Poe


End file.
